The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has expressed disappointment at comments passed by Deputy Minister of Health, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo on their on-going strike action which enters into its fourteenth day on Saturday.
Greater Accra Regional President of the GMA, Dr. Owusu Sekyere, considers the comment by the deputy minister as ill-timed and very bad for a successful resolution of the impasse.
The Deputy Minister, on Friday, gave the strongest indication yet of government�s resolve not to yield to the striking doctors� demand and asked them to take the government�s offer or leave it.
In an interview on JoyFM, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo is reported to have stated that since the GMA and the FWSC are going for a compulsory arbitration, the doctors have no choice but to call off the strike, since their resolve would amount to flouting the rules of engagement of arbitration.
An obviously irritated Rojo, believed the striking doctors were not reasoning along the lines that life lost can never be regained, and pointed out that it would be �unethical� for them to continue with their action whilst the arbitration continues.
�The rules of engagement of arbitration are very clear; that the parties, before arbitration can be empanelled, cannot continue with the lockout action, and cannot continue with the strike action�And that it behoves them (doctors), if they want to prepare themselves for arbitration, to go back to work immediately. It is not an option that is available to them�The options are clear�the reason for establishing the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission was to establish fair wages�They are free to advise themselves if, they think the employer, which is government, is unable to meet their demand; I think they have an option of going to private practice�If they can promise me that they can bring every single person who died in Ghana back to life, right, I can accept the kind of things they are going through,� he said.
But speaking in an interview with Bernard Avle on Citi FM�s Eye Witness News, Dr. Owusu Sekyere expressed disappointment at the Deputy Minister�s remark.
�What is Rojo�s problem in this? He can spare us both because so far as we are concerned, the case is out of his hands. The Labour Commission is the appropriate unit to make comments on this issue�take it or leave; is that how we negotiate? He insists that he is not going to discuss the issue and that has always been the situation. Let us not allow politics to influence us. That is not helpful in this condition,� the GMA Greater Accra President said.
The GMA embarked on a nationwide strike on October 8th, after the failure of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to address issues the doctors raised pertaining to their migration unto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).
In a statement issued on October 7th, the GMA said "looking at the stands of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission it appears unlikely that any attempt is being made to address our concerns...In the light of this, the National Executive Council of the Ghana Medical Association has decided that the road map as stated in the press statement issued in Tamale on the 24th of September, 2011 should come into effect.
�After 7th October 2011 if the conditions above are not met, the National Executive Council of the Ghana Medical Association after taking into consideration the frustrations and concerns of members, has instructed all doctors to stop work and hold themselves in readiness for further instructions,� the statement read in part.
The GMA is complaining about distortions in the grading structures of the Single Spine Pay Structure, issues of unscientific determination of Market Premium and inducement by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, the inability of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission to provide unequivocal evidence of migration of doctors onto the SSSS and the ambiguous stance of the Single Spine Salary Secretariat on the positions of District Directors of Health Service and Medical Superintendents.
Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com
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