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STRIKING MEDICAL doctors have dared President John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration to haul them to court if he (president) insists that their action of laying down their tools for better working conditions is illegal.

Dr. Frank Ankobea, Ashanti Regional President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA,) stressed that the doctors had not flouted the laws of the land in anyway by embarking on the strike action.

President Mahama and other top NDC functionaries are on record to have accused the striking doctors of indulging in illegality by embarking on an industrial action.

Dr. Ankobea stated that the doctors were acting within the confines of the law, maintaining that the GMA had not done anything illegal so those who are accusing them wrongly should stop.

He noted that if President Mahama and the NDC government strongly believe that the medical practitioners are acting illegally then he (Dr. Ankobea) was him to drag the doctors to court for the right thing to be done.

“We at the GMA don’t know that our decision of laying down our tools for better working conditions is illegal,” the Ashanti Regional GMA President told Don Dada of Otec FM on Wednesday.

Dr. Ankobea added, “If the president and the government think that we have breached the law, then they should take us to court for it to determine that indeed we are acting illegally.

“He is the number one gentleman of the land; what are his duties?” he asked, apparently referring to President Mahama, adding “he should do his duties and we as medical doctors are ready.”

Dr. Ankobea disclosed pathetically that medical doctors in the country had been taken for granted for more than five decades, stressing that the medical doctors were ready to fight for their deserved rights, now.

Salary Freeze

He said government’s threat of withholding doctors’ salary for the month of August this year, due to the strike action, would not deter the GMA from making sure that doctors’ working conditions are improved.

According to him, the current GMA is fighting for current and future medical doctors, including those who are yet unborn, so they are ready to sacrifice to make sure that their demands are granted.

“God willing, we shall not die if the government decides to freeze our salaries for August 2015 because of the strike action,” the GMA member stated categorically, noting that the doctors were steadfast about their demands.

He lambasted the government for intentionally leaking the doctors’ proposal to the public with the sole intention of igniting public anger against them (doctors), stressing that the government’s fiendish plan had backfired.

Propaganda

He described as mere propaganda and falsehood, assertions by some NDC communicators that most of the medical doctors own private hospitals so they were benefitting financially from the strike as more patients visit their hospitals.

Dr. Ankobea, without mincing words, stated emphatically that such statements are “irresponsible,” cautioning that the government can’t use propaganda to solve the doctors’ issue. “The propaganda will rather worsen issues,” he noted.