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Management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) is engaging the services of private medical laboratories to provide clinical services for Ghana’s second-largest health referral facility.

The decision had been necessitated by a sit-down strike by the Hospital’s Chapter of the Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists (GAMLS).

Mr. Kwame Frimpong, Head of the Public Affairs Unit of KATH, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Kumasi, said the move was a stop-gap measure “to ensure innocent patients do not suffer the consequences of the strike action”.

The Management, he said, was currently in talks with the striking medical laboratory scientists for an amicable resolution of the impasse.

“Even though the Laboratory Services Directorate (LSD) is on strike, it is the duty of Management to ensure uninterrupted services to patients, some of whom travel from afar to access healthcare,” he said.

Medical laboratory scientists of the Hospital on Thursday, May 20, commenced an indefinite sit-down strike to register their protest against what they described as wrongful postings of two Medical Officers, Lesley Osei and Eunice Agyemang Ahmed, to the LSD as "Clinical" Haematologists.

According to the Association, various protest letters had been written to the Hospital’s Management expressing the Association’s displeasure of the development, describing the presence of the two medical officers as an imposition.

“The entire Membership of the GAMLS-KATH Chapter would continue with the sit-down strike until the Association’s demands are met,” Mr. Ernest Badu-Boateng, the Chairman told the GNA in an interview.

The Association would resist any attempt on the part of the Hospital’s Management or the Board to create a new unit within the current LSD structure called "Clinical Haematology Unit for these Medical Officers, he stated.

Medical laboratory scientists play a critical role in the healthcare delivery system, including examining and analyzing blood, body fluids, tissues and cells.

They are also charged with the responsibility of relaying test results to physicians and cross-matching blood for transfusion.

“The medical laboratory scientists are qualified enough to work on their own and man the LSD without the medical officers,” Mr. Badu-Boateng insisted.

The industrial action by the medical laboratory scientists has created a lot of inconveniences for many patients at KATH, who had no option than to seek private professional care in the heat of the impasse.

In an interview with the GNA, some of the patients entreated the Management of the Hospital and Ministry of Health (MoH) to resolve the differences as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the Ministry, in a statement issued on Thursday, appealed to the striking medical laboratory scientists to rescind their decision, while negotiations are held to address their grievances.