Junior Doctors strike at KATH is still pending- says Dr
Kantanka
By Abdul Salam Sule,
Ghanadot
Accra, May 4, Ghanadot - Contrary to
the earlier information that junior doctors at the Komfo Anokye
Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi had called off their strike,
the president of the Junior
Doctors Association
at KATH, Dr Safo Kantanka, has said, the strike action
was still in progress and would end
after their demand had been met.
Dr Kantanka in a press conference this afternoon said
that, though the Health Minister, Dr Sipa Yankey had
negotiations with them over the weekend to rescind their
decision pending an expedited
government action on the matter, the
junior doctors had declined his
request.
To determine whether the junior doctors would go back to work or
not based on the Minister's request, Dr Kantanka explained that
a vote was conducted
on the matter and out of 103 doctors
who took part in the voting process, 94 supported the strike
action and the remaining 9 did not.
"This result shows that junior doctors
at KATH will continue to lay down their tools until their
demands are met", he declared.
He noted that government after
government had always paid lip services to the plight of the
Ghanaian doctor hence their refusal to respond to the Health
Minister's call of going back to work.
Dr Kantanka however disputed the allegation that their strike
action was politically motivated and calculated to make the
Attah Mills led dministration unpopular, saying, none of them
was a politician.
Junior doctors at KATH in Kumasi embarked on strike action on
Friday May 1, to protest a delay in the payment of
their fuel allowances and
increase in their salaries.
In a related development, junior doctors at the Korle-Bu
Teaching hospital in Accra have threatened to join their
counterparts at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to lay down
their tools.
Chairman of Junior Doctors Association at Korle-Bu, Dr Ernest
Yorke said, a meeting with his colleague doctors this evening
would determine their next line of action.
Meanwhile, Dr George Sipa Yankey, the Minister Health has made a
passionate appeal to the striking junior doctors at KATH to
return to work and save lives of innocent Ghanaians.
He said, government is expediting actions to ensure that all
outstanding allowances for the past 18 months are cleared.
Ghanadot
