Dead patients left in bed

... due to strike in C/R hospital
Cape Coast, April 24, GNA - A number of dead patients were on Monday morning reportedly left in their beds at the Central Regional Hospital following the refusal of mortuary attendants to remove them as a result of a strike action by nurses and other paramedical staff at the hospital, some hospital workers told the GNA.

When the GNA visited the hospital at about 0800 hours, it found the main entrances to the hospital locked and relatives who were bringing in a dead body to be deposited at the hospital's mortuary were also turned away.

Security men manning the entrances also refused to allow in patients.

At the various departments including the laboratory, pharmacy and the outpatients unit, the staff were seen gathered in groups. The strike is in protest against the implementation of a new salary structure for health workers, "which gives doctors a wider salary range as against other workers".

They said the salary gap of 90 percent for doctors and pharmacists as against 45 percent for other workers including nurse "was too wide and unacceptable".

They threatened to continue with their action until the issue was resolved but gave the assurance that they would attend to emergency cases.

The workers failed to heed to a plea by the Regional Minister, Mr Isaac Edumadze, to go back to work.

The GNA learnt that some of the doctors were in the wards attending to patients but noticed that some expatriate doctors had gathered and one of them told the GNA that they were "waiting for their leader to decide on their next line of action".

The story was no different at the Cape Coast District Hospital where patients were also being turned away but an expectant mother and other emergency cases were attended to.

The Administrator, Mr Emmanuel Gyamfi, said they were waiting for directives from the executives of the various health workers associations and that he was optimistic the issues would be resolved by the close of day.

A medical assistant at the Ewim Urban Health Centre in Cape Coast, Alhaji Ibrahim Yahaya, told the GNA that the 19 paramedical staff at the centre had also laid down their tools and that he and the other medical assistant were doing their best to attend to patients.