Staff of the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital have called off their three-day sit down strike to protest against the illegal takeover of lands belonging to the hospital.
The strike, which began on Monday10 July, was called off on Wednesday 12 July after the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, intervened to stop the developers from building on the land while they find a lasting solution to the problem.
The hospital staff embarked on a demonstration on Wednesday, following which the Minister met them in a closed-door meeting with the management of the hospital and some selected staff.
Addressing the media after the meeting, the head of staff, Elvis Akuamoah, said they would resume work on Thursday 13 July as the Minister had showed commitment to resolve the matter.
He said: “We are encouraged by the fact that he [Health Minister] considers this as a very important matter and he said that he hasn’t seen any situation where individuals and private developers should take over the frontage of a hospital.
“In its wider consultation, he has had some sort of agreement with the one who is selling the land that government has interest in the land fronting the hospital and so temporarily they should halt the development and he should also talk to his colleagues who are in the sale of the stretch fronting the hospital to halt as they go into discussions to see the way forward. But ultimately there is some commitment to acquire the land fronting the hospital and we are happy. So tomorrow we are back to work.”
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