Government says it does not anticipate any unrest from public health doctors whilst negotiations to improve their conditions and pay structure continue despite the ultimatum from the Medical association.
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) reportedly gave government a May 30, 2015 ultimatum to pay accumulated arrears of conversion difference because their base pay was reduced when they were enrolled onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) or face their wrath.
According to the association, doctors working in the public sector continue to suffer from reduced pensions and benefits due to government’s refusal to pay conversion difference.
However, the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Health, Tony Goodman told B&FT that he does not expect any strike from the doctors because they are part of the negotiations.
Condition of service Tony Goodman explained that for condition of service to apply, “It is from the day you start and the last day you are exiting. Even though there is already some form of package .We want a separate one from the health service, we have sum all of that and we intend to derive it from the public health services” he said.
Conversion difference is defined by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) as the difference between the salary of a jobholder overpaid on a previous salary structure and his current salary under the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) in order not to make him or her worse off.
Dr Justice Yankson, Deputy General Secretary of the GMA, had said that specialist doctors who retired before the Single Spine was introduced take as little as GHC204 a month as pension.
He explained that before doctors were migrated onto the SSSS in November 2011, doctors had taken government to the National Labour Commission (NLC) on overtime allowances, which the doctors won.
However, their migration resulted in a reduction in their base pay because the overtime allowance of 200 hours per doctor a month had increased their earnings.
Dr Yankson explained that the government paid the conversion difference from November 2011 to January 2012 and stopped.
According to him, government stopped paying the conversion difference under the pretext that overtime allowance for 200 hours a month had increased the salary of doctors.
He said doctors argue that overtime allowance cannot be a basis for reducing their base pay.
The doctors are frustrated by government’s failure to put in place service conditions for them as essential service providers.
They have warned they will consider themselves unemployed if their conditions of service are not negotiated and signed by the stipulated date.
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