Docs will get their conditions of service before June 2015 – Gov’t

Doctors working in the public sector in Ghana have been assured by the Government that their conditions of service will be ready before the June 2015 ultimatum given by the leadership of the Ghana Medical Association.

The over 2,000 Doctors say they still do not have a set of conditions of service despite over a decade of negotiations.

They have threatened to resign en mass if the Government fails to accede to their demand for a comprehensive set of conditions of service by the middle of next year.

Deputy Minister of Communication Ato Sarpong told STARR NEWS Tuesday that the Doctors indeed are right in demanding a set of conditions of service, and said the Government will take advantage of the six months’ window of opportunity to provide one.

“On the issue of the Doctors seeking conditions of service, that’s a right, I mean, you cannot work without conditions of service…so it’s just proper that anyone engaged in any form of employment has some conditions of service from his employer…so that’s something that we’ll deal with.”

“They’ve offered us a window of six months and I’m sure within the next couple of weeks or within a couple of months, we’ll be able to resolve that, and will not result in any strike at all,” Sarpong assured the Doctors.

“Six months notification is enough; if we are unable to deal with this issue for the Doctors to any action post-six months, then I’ll say that we’ve let down the people of this country by not doing anything with six months’ notification. So we’ll definitely resolve it,” he emphasised.