Ghana Medical Doctors Embark on Strike Action
INTRODUCTION: Doctors of the Ghana Medical Association working in public hospitals across the country are striking over what they call “poor working conditions”. Sick people and their relatives who turned up at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital after 7 days of the strike have different stories to share. In a letter signed by Dr Kwabena Adusei Opoku, President of the Ghana Medical Association, to the Minister of Health, the striking doctors are demanding members of the Ghana Medical Association working for the Ministry of Health of Ghana must be entitled to 40% of their basic salaries as accommodation allowance per month. For what another doctor who has refused to join the strike is calling “an outrageous demand” the striking doctors say they must be entitled to 80, 90 and 100 gallons of petrol per month respectively based on the rank of the doctor. The doctors will not return to work unless they are given free post-graduate medical education, better retirement packages,...