Striking doctors resume work

Junior doctors at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on Tuesday suspended their four-day strike action after they received their Additional Duty Hours allowance (ADH) for July and August. Doctors in other hospitals in the Greater Accra region have also resolved to resume work.

Speaking to the GNA in Accra, Dr Samuel Seidu, spokesman for the doctors at Korle-Bu, said though some of them started work on Monday night, majority of them resumed work on Tuesday after they received their cheques for the ADH. He said some of their colleagues in the regions are likely to receive theirs by Wednesday.

The junior doctors withdrew their services last Friday to press home their demands for payment of the allowances for July and August. A source close to the Out Patient Department (OPD) said the hospital has started admitting new cases and emergencies. At the wards doctors were attending to old and new cases.

Some of the doctors the GNA spoke to said they have not totally called off the strike action but suspended it because they have not yet received the allowance for September. The doctors have given the administration up to October 20 to pay the allowance for September. At the Ridge Hospital, a source at the OPD confirmed that the doctors have resumed work.