Over 140 doctors threaten sit-down strike

Over one hundred and forty junior doctors at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital have threatened to lay down their tools if government fails to pay them their salary arrears.

According to them, they are struggling to make ends meet because they have been working for six months without pay.

Speaking to Citi News, the leader of the house officers, Dr Oswald Tetteh said several pleas to the relevant agencies have not yielded any positive results.

“We haven’t been paid yet and it has been about five months at least. …We stated in a letter that we do not think we can continue working because it is very difficult. We have been trying to cope with the situation but it is very difficult to continue like this.

“… Some of us come from very bad background, hoping that when we become doctors we will start getting something from the hard work we have been doing but nothing has been coming,” Mr. Tetteh complained.

Their threats come on the back of a recent nationwide doctors’ strike which left patients in various hospitals stranded.

The doctors embarked on the strike after government failed to satisfy their demands for conditions of service.

They were asking government to among other things provide them with 40% of their basic salary as accommodation allowance, as well as 100, 90 and 80 gallons of fuel per month for the different levels of the profession.

They later called off the strike after considering appeals from the National Executive Council, the clergy and National Council of Chiefs.