<<Print>>

Public sector doctors resumed work Wednesday, after almost a one-month strike, but there were virtually no out-patients at some of the hospitals in Accra to be attended to. In some hospitals in other parts of the country, however, attendance was encouraging. During a visit to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), the Ridge Hospital and the La Polyclinic in Accra yesterday the doctors were seen on duty, in compliance with the advice by the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) for its members to do so, but there were hardly any patients in the consulting rooms. Apparently, a large proportion of the public was not aware that the doctors had called off their strike. Dominic Moses Awiah reports that at a time of a visit to KBTH at 10 a.m. yesterday, revealed that the usual busy and serious atmosphere at the hospital was absent. Nurses who usually attended to patients were seen sitting idle. Two patients who spoke to the Daily Graphic said because there were no patients at the Out-Patients Department (OPD), they spent only 10 minutes to receive attention at the hospital. �On a normal day, l spend close to six hours at the KBTH but that is not the case today. I came here very early, thinking that l would meet a long queue of patients, but l met only the nurse who led me right into the consulting room to see the doctor,� Daniel Karikari said. At the Ridge Hospital, the situation was no different. The various departments, the emergency wards and the OPD had only a handful of patients waiting to be attended to. Some of the patients carried medical reports which they were to submit to the doctors for study. After consulting a doctor, Mr Moses Quarshie said he was excited about the doctors� decision to call off their strike. At the La Polyclinic, a 52-year-old patient did not understand why he was told to come back for a check-up on Thursday (today). �There is nobody here and yet I have been told to report to the hospital on Thursday. For what? Why can�t the doctors do the check-up today?� he asked. Some of the nurses the Daily Graphic spoke to said the near empty situation at the hospital was because patients were not aware that the strike had been called off. According to a senior nurse at the La Hospital, a few patients who attended hospital yesterday were not even aware that doctors had resumed work, adding that �the patients said they had come here to find out if the nurses could attend to them�. From Sunyani, Samuel Duodu reports that patients who called at the OPD of the Brong Ahafo Regional Hospital expressed joy at the news that doctors had called off their strike. The patients, who were in queues to see doctors at the various clinics, said they heard the news on Tuesday evening. Those who had already been seen by the doctors also expressed joy at the turn of events. It was their expectation that the government would meet the demands of the doctors to forestall any such development. Mr Asare Bediako, the Administrator of the hospital, said the end of the doctors� strike was welcome news, more so as the doctors were on duty. A number of patients visited the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) yesterday after hearing that doctors had called off their strike, writes Kwame Asare Boadu from Kumasi. Even though attendance at KATH in the morning was low, it started improving from around midday, after many people had heard of the new development. Many of the doctors were at post attending to patients at the wards and at the OPD. The Kumasi South and the Suntreso hospitals were full of activities during a visit to the two facilities by the Daily Graphic. A middle-aged man with whom the Daily Graphic spoke at the OPD at KATH said he had not heard of the suspension of the doctors� strike and that he was only at the hospital to see if he could by chance get a doctor to attend to him. Dr Lawrence Osei Tutu, the President of the Junior Doctors Association at KATH, told the Daily Graphic that it was good to resume work. �Patients are coming in droves but for now the main concern is with the drugs to be administered on patients,� he said. The hospital pharmacy is closed because of the strike by pharmacists. Due to that development, Dr Osei Tutu said, a simple drug like paracetamol to be given to a patient at the Emergency Ward was not available. �I have to write a subscription for the patient to buy it outside,� he said. He said health delivery would suffer if the strike by pharmacists was not addressed. In Tamale, a traditional ruler, Dakpema Naa Mohammed Dawuni, who was visiting the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) to assess the impact of the doctors� strike on the sick, was happy when he found out that the strike was over. He lauded the doctors for their decision to resume work after about a month, writes Nurudeen Salifu from Tamale. He said their return to work, although long awaited, was welcome, as it would save a precarious situation from deteriorating further. The Chief Executive Officer of the TTH, Dr Ken Sagoe, said in spite of the strike, the hospital continued to provide some essential services. From Koforidua, Nana Konadu Agyeman reports that doctors at the Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua resumed work yesterday. However, only a few patients turned up at the hospital. When the Daily Graphic visited the pharmacy department, no pharmacist was seen because the place was closed.