Striking Doctors Dare Gov’t

Dr Kwabena Opoku Adusei, GMA President

Dr Kwabena Opoku Adusei, GMA President






Striking Doctors in the country have dared the Government to sack them if they can.

The Doctors’ bluff calling follows a suggestion by the Ghana Federation of Labour that the illegality of their strike is justification for the termination of their contracts.

There are more than a thousand Public Sector Doctors in the Country.

Sacking all of them could have damning consequences on Ghana’s health delivery system.

The consequences notwithstanding, Labour Consultant Senyo Adjabeng has also supported the suggestions for the Doctors to be sacked.

Mr Adjabeng however noted that, termination of the Doctors’ appointment should be the last resort.

He believes sacking them will serve as a deterrent to other unions who blatantly flout the labour laws.

Doctors are part of the essential services category and therefore barred from going on strike.

However, the Doctors, who are demanding full payment of their market premium arrears as well as correction of anomalies in their pension contributions say not even the labour laws will prevent them from exacting their pound of flesh.

The General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr Frank Serebuor told  XYZ News  in an interview that they will not ‘chicken out’ of the strike because of threats of termination of their appointment.

‘We are ready to be sacked’, he said.
‘I don’t think there’s any Doctor who is striking today who is not ready to be sacked, I mean, otherwise we won’t be striking so we are ready’, he insisted.

He conceded that: ‘It’s the right of the government to decide whether to sack us or maintain us’, but added that: ‘The issue is that if you want to sack us, all that we are saying is pay us our arrears, at least that is work that we have done’.

‘They should pay us and then they can sack us. So as far as that is concerned, we are not worried about that. We are ready to be sacked’.

‘I’m serious’, about it he told  XYZ News .

He said: ‘The threat of a strike is not making the Government budge so why will the threat of sacking get us to go back to work’.

‘They can’t take our brains away from us. We have our certificates, they can’t take it away’.

Radioxyzonline.com