The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has given the government up to September 30, 2021, to settle outstanding arrears to its members or face a strike.
In a communiqué issued after a National Executive Council meeting, the Association says the strike will begin from October 1, 2021 with the suspension of Outpatient-services and October 15th will be for the complete withdrawal of all their services.
“Withdrawal of all in-patient services will begin the following week (effective Friday 8th October 2021) if all the issues are still not completely resolved,” the communiqué explained further.
In an interview on ‘Eyewitness News’ on Citi FM, the Association’s General Secretary, Dr. Justice Yankson, said doctors have been “more than magnanimous enough and the government should be able to honour its commitment.”
Responding to the GMA communiqué, the Chief Executive Officer of the State Transport Corporation, Nana Akomea has advised the State authorities to not sit on the fence and allow the doctors go on strike.
As if to tell the authorities to draw lessons from the ongoing UTAG strike, Nana Akomea admonished the Health and Labour Ministers to quickly hold negotiations with the Medical Association to thwart their impending strike action.
“Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour must meet with them. We should not wait for long. Misunderstandings and grievances will always be there but when the person points out their challenges, we have to immediately meet them,” he said during Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ Tuesday morning.