Greater Accra Doctors On Strike - Govt Surprised

Doctors of the Ghana Health Service in the Greater Accra Region yesterday withdrew their services in protest at the delay in the payment of their Additional Duty Hour Allowance (ADHA), which has been in arrears for three months. According to the doctors, they hated strike actions but they had to resort to this weapon to achieve their aim because they had been pushed to the wall.

Dr. Solomon Kwadwo Dzakpata Dzokoto Pomenya, the Spokesman for the Usher Fort Polyclinic doctors? group, announced this in an interview yesterday evening. He said they received a letter yesterday from the Minister of Health expressing surprise at the turn of events and assured them of the payment of their December allowance.

?We want the government to pay us the allowances of December, January and February, otherwise we are not going to work?, he declared and stated that their action was in the interest of patients and all Ghanaians.

Govt Surprised By Doctors Strike Decision

The Government Spokesperson on Social Services, Mr Kofi Amponsah Bediako, says that government is surprised by the decision of Doctors in the Greater Accra Region who are members of the Ghana Health Service to embark on a strike action.

In an interview with Citi News, Mr Kofi Amponsah Bediako said that some of the allowances of the Doctors had been released to them, which in a sense, makes the strike action uncalled for. Although government says that it has released part of the outstanding Additional Duty Hour Allowances (ADHA), most doctors say that they are yet to receive it.

Mr Amponsah Bediako also stated that this was due to delays in processing the checks which is purely administrative. According to Mr Amponsah Bediako, government will be meeting with the health professionals to streamline the situation and hopefully see to the end of the strike.

Meanwhile, the Reverend Prof Chris Hesse, Head of the Department of the Medicine of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, has appealed to the general public to come to the aid of the hospital and other ones in the country, because there is general lack of equipment in the hospitals.

In an interview with Citi News about the situation in the country's hospitals, Prof. Chris Hesse said there seems to be more interest in provision of drugs than in provision of infrastructure and equipment. According to the Reverend Prof. Chris Hesse, everyone would at some point in time, pass through Korle Bu, hence the need for all to put shoulders to the wheel by promoting the cause of the Hospital.