Doctors to strike over conditions of service, abuse of NHIL funds

The Ghana Medical Association has tabled a list of demands for redress by the government, threatening to embark on a strike action if the demands are not met.
A statement issued by the association at the end of its 4th annual executive council meeting in Jirapa in the Upper West Region noted.

The demands include:

Ending non-core expenditure of the National Health Insurance Authority to parliamentarians and Ministry of Health

Direct transfer of Health Insurance Levy to the NHIL account at the Bank of Ghana and not into the consolidated fund

Equitable distribution of health professionals especially to deprived communities

The roadmap designed for the strike noted that all doctors working in the public service shall withdraw Out-Patient services.

From August 20, all emergency services shall be withdrawn, then on August 27, “all services offered by doctors in the public health facilities shall be totally withdrawn.”

The statement by the medical association also touched on the working conditions of its members, raising concerns with the implementation of the conditions of service document signed in October 2015.

The doctors want their market premiums to return to a factor percentage of basic salary.

“The above award was implemented for only a year, after which government unilaterally decided to make it a fixed figure, contrary to the ruling of the NLC,” the statement said.

The statement added: “The issues of doctors having suffered reduced pensions following migration onto the Single Spine Pay Policy and the non-payment of conversion difference is still outstanding since December 2011 in spite of the NLC’s compulsory arbitration award which binds both parties (and subsequent directives by the NLC to the government to correct same).”