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30th March, 2010
SPARE US THE AGONY
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has given notice.
It says that come next April 5, if the government fails to pay the Facilitation Allowance due its members, they will embark on what they term “selective withdrawal of services”.
Again, it has warned that if their grievance is not resolved by the stipulated date, doctors in the public sector will withdraw all services on the four Mondays in the month of April 2010, as a sign of protest against “deliberate foot-dragging on the part of the government”.
Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, president of the GMA, who announced this at a news conference in Accra on Saturday, said if by April 30, no appropriate and satisfactory response had been received from government, there would be immediate withdrawal of services from May 1.
On an Accra FM radio station yesterday, however, the Health Minister, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, assured the GMA that their grievance was receiving the utmost attention by government, and that by next week, their entitlement would be paid to them.
It is easy, as it often has been, to accuse doctors and other professionals, including teachers and nurses, that they hold the nation to ransom whenever they have an issue over remuneration.
We agree because we share in the pain of a staff-less hospital and school; one never knows when he or she would be the patient in the emergency ward.
However, it is troubling, indeed, that from time without memory, teachers, nurses and doctors have always had to issue a threat or embark on industrial action before they are paid. The last time, it was the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT).
Knowing Ghanaian governments as well as they did, NAGRAT mounted the pressure on a Monday and by Friday, the Ministry of Education had called them to show them the cheque for their money.
Again, knowing Ghanaian governments as well as they did, they refused to budge, declaring that they would first want to see the money reflected in their bank accounts. Within three days or so, the money was in their bank accounts.
Why should payments be stalled until workers bark or howl? If the money had been there all that time, why were they not paid? Could it be an act of sabotage via ill-advice?
This has gone on for years. We have seen it in almost every republic or regime in this country.
We would like to make ourselves clear. We think it is unethical for any medical staff to down his/her tools to make a case for better salary. It is particularly bad if this happens when negotiations are ongoing and have not reached an impasse.
As has often been pointed out by Professor Frimpong Boateng, “the fact is that you can never go back to resurrect the dead after you have been paid what is due you”.
We agree with this stand and wish to state our own position that anybody who does not feel strongly about what he/she has to do to help people to recover from their illness and to prevent people from dying unnecessarily must not enter the health service.
Equally, the government must find ways of addressing the problems of the entire health sector holistically. Life and health are the most important possessions of any human being.
Why should conditions prevail which make it possible for a fellow human being to take away one’s right to life just because some government officials have dragged their feet or that some doctor needs more money.
It says that come next April 5, if the government fails to pay the Facilitation Allowance due its members, they will embark on what they term “selective withdrawal of services”.
Again, it has warned that if their grievance is not resolved by the stipulated date, doctors in the public sector will withdraw all services on the four Mondays in the month of April 2010, as a sign of protest against “deliberate foot-dragging on the part of the government”.
Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, president of the GMA, who announced this at a news conference in Accra on Saturday, said if by April 30, no appropriate and satisfactory response had been received from government, there would be immediate withdrawal of services from May 1.
On an Accra FM radio station yesterday, however, the Health Minister, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, assured the GMA that their grievance was receiving the utmost attention by government, and that by next week, their entitlement would be paid to them.
It is easy, as it often has been, to accuse doctors and other professionals, including teachers and nurses, that they hold the nation to ransom whenever they have an issue over remuneration.
We agree because we share in the pain of a staff-less hospital and school; one never knows when he or she would be the patient in the emergency ward.
However, it is troubling, indeed, that from time without memory, teachers, nurses and doctors have always had to issue a threat or embark on industrial action before they are paid. The last time, it was the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT).
Knowing Ghanaian governments as well as they did, NAGRAT mounted the pressure on a Monday and by Friday, the Ministry of Education had called them to show them the cheque for their money.
Again, knowing Ghanaian governments as well as they did, they refused to budge, declaring that they would first want to see the money reflected in their bank accounts. Within three days or so, the money was in their bank accounts.
Why should payments be stalled until workers bark or howl? If the money had been there all that time, why were they not paid? Could it be an act of sabotage via ill-advice?
This has gone on for years. We have seen it in almost every republic or regime in this country.
We would like to make ourselves clear. We think it is unethical for any medical staff to down his/her tools to make a case for better salary. It is particularly bad if this happens when negotiations are ongoing and have not reached an impasse.
As has often been pointed out by Professor Frimpong Boateng, “the fact is that you can never go back to resurrect the dead after you have been paid what is due you”.
We agree with this stand and wish to state our own position that anybody who does not feel strongly about what he/she has to do to help people to recover from their illness and to prevent people from dying unnecessarily must not enter the health service.
Equally, the government must find ways of addressing the problems of the entire health sector holistically. Life and health are the most important possessions of any human being.
Why should conditions prevail which make it possible for a fellow human being to take away one’s right to life just because some government officials have dragged their feet or that some doctor needs more money.
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