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Deputy Communications Director at the Presidency, Fatima Abubakar has called on doctors threatening indefinite industrial action, effective Monday, 6 August 2018 should government not meet their demands to exercise patience as they absorb thorough stakeholders’ engagements.

To her, their demands have not gotten to a striking stage because stakeholder engagements are still on-going to resolve their demand which is a worry to the President.

“It is never the will of government that doctors should go through hard and difficult times or situations in their line of duty, but circumstances inherited have made it so. Government is trying its best to settle their arrears . . . it is not like government has the money in its possession and it is refusing to release it,” she pleaded with them.

Speaking on UTV’s ‘Adekye Nsroma’ programme Monday, she stressed that the“expectations of citizens towards this government is beyond human imagination, therefore it is making it possible to share the little revenue generated amongst every sector.”

She added that the partisan line of addressing issues in this country have cost government to loose huge sums of money, which could have been invested into more beneficial projects.

Background

Members of the Ghana Medical Association [GMA] out of a National Executive Council meeting on July 27, have endangered to embark on an industrial strike action starting from August 6, should government fail to adhere to their demands.

First, all doctors working in the public service shall withdraw Out-Patient services.

From August 20, all emergency services shall be withdrawn, and then on August 27, “all services offered by doctors in the public health facilities shall be totally withdrawn.”

According to their stated demands, “The issues of doctors having suffered reduced pensions following migration onto the Single Spine Pay Policy and the non-payment of conversion difference is still outstanding since December 2011 in spite of the NLC’s compulsory arbitration award which binds both parties [and subsequent directives by the NLC to the government to correct same].”

It, however, said the “government has been lackadaisical in bringing closure to the outstanding issues.”

Incentive packages also needs to be improved to attract doctors posted to deprived areas to work their best out.

It also highlighted that the National Health Levy [NHL] be confiscated directly into their account through Ghana Commercial bank instead of it going first into government account before being transferred into theirs.