Doctors To Be Banned From Ever Going On Strike � Minister

Ghanaian doctors would from the near future not be able to use strike as a bargaining chip ever again thus according to acting Health Minister Haruna Iddrisu. According to him government is considering getting the doctors to sign a �bond� especially those in the public sector to hold them against ever going on strike. Alternative means of seeking redress would agreed upon instead of a strike. Haruna Iddrisu said these when he visited the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on Sunday to ascertain for himself the impact of the doctors� strike on patients and the nation as a whole. There were doctors available at the hospital attending to patients unlike yesterday when there were only nurses on duty, giving first aid and referring all the cases to either the 37 Military Hospital or the Police Hospital. According to Haruna Iddrisu whose actual position is Minister of Communication, �government is considering reaching an agreement with the doctors where they would sign a bond preventing them from embarking on a strike. �As a long term policy decision, government would consider that and government would implement that. "For instance the Ghana Medical Association is a composition of both public and private doctors and what business do we have negotiating with doctors who are in the private sector. �Ours is those in the public service and they must make a commitment to serve the Ghanaian people�. The strike of the doctors is in its eighth day. A visit to three major hospitals � Ridge Hospital, 37 Military Hospital and the Police Hospital all in Accra showed that some doctors were at post except the Ridge Hospital where most of the nurses could be seen chatting away the time. A 50-year-old man is said to have died at the Ridge Hospital due to the absence of a doctor to help salvage the man's condition. Two people with emergency cases reportedly died yesterday due to the lack of some logistics to cater for them and the excess pressure the few medical staff there had to cope with.