Accra, July 27, GNA - The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has rejected the proposed seven per cent increment by government for the health sector, and described it as an "insignificant increment". It said the proposal did not factor in the economic realities of the day which must have informed the recent 17 per cent increments for other public sector workers.

A statement jointly signed by the President of the Association, Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, and the General Secretary, Dr Sodzi Sodzi Tettey, and copied to the GNA on Monday, called on labour unions in the health sector to close ranks and adopt common strategies to address common challenges for their mutual interest.

The Association at the end of its fourth National Executive Council meeting in Bolgatanga, protested against the unilateral variation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the Association and the Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa Yankey, on the part of government. The statement said the Association had necessitated the action because of the silence of the Ministry of Finance on the issue of on-call duty facilitation allowance and other pertinent issues. For example, it said a letter signed by the Minister of Finance postponed the payment of arrears due members from July to August 2009, and scheduled to be paid in four tranches instead of the two agreed upon.

The statement said after deliberating on all the concerns, the Association called on the National Labour Commission to urgently address the issues before any crises arose. The GMA signed a MoU with Dr Sipa Yankey on May 26, 2009, to address the concerns of the Association, following the work-to-rule schedule embarked upon by members. 27 July 09