Koforidua, Nov. 7, GNA - The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has called on the government to pay all outstanding on-call duty allowances due doctors working in public institutions by November 30, to forestall any industrial unrest.

The GMA also urged the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to engage them to clear all the bottlenecks surrounding the impending implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure, as regards doctors and the Health sector generally. This was contained in a communiqu=E9 issued by the GMA at the end of it's 52nd Annual General Conference at Koforidua on Sunday, which was organized under the theme "Maternal healthcare in Ghana ; realities beyond the policies".

The association registered it's displeasure about the high maternal mortality rate of 451 per 100,000 live births and appealed to all District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies to acquire at least one ambulance for transporting women in labour to the hospitals. This, the GMA said, would help reduce the delays associated with transporting women in labour to nearest medical facilities, which leads to the high maternal deaths in the country.

The communiqu=E9 called for the full implementation of the approved national blood policy, to help address the challenge of blood shortage, which also causes maternal death.