Striking doctors have clarified that they never asked for a one-time payment of their accrued one-time premium arrears.
They have accused government of concealing the full details of their demands from the public adding that they had proposed to government a system where their arrears were to be paid in regular instalments.
The doctors have been on strike for a week and have threatened to intensify their action by not attending to emergencies from Monday.
In an interview with Citi News, the General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Frank Serebuor pointed out that “they are now saying that the Ghana Medical Association requested for a one-time pay off. We never requested for a one-time pay payment.”
He explained that the leadership of the GMA submitted a proposal to government requesting that they pay them “in tranches yet, we want a consistent payment. We don’t want intermittent breaks and we want all our arrears paid up to 2013 and not only 2012. Why are they not talking about that?”
Dr. Serebuor mentioned that it was imperative for Ghanaians “to know all about it and know who is right and who is wrong. They are not helping us as a people.”
He urged Ghanaians to be guarded in their comments on the matter because “the insults will not solve the problem… Why don’t they clear all the arrears up to date and going forward; implement the right decision so they do not accrue other arrears?”