The Medical Laboratory Professional Workers’ Union (MELPWU) has issued a seven-day strike ultimatum over what it describes as the unlawful reversal of an agreed leadership appointment at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), deepening a turf conflict at the hospital’s Central Laboratory that also forced a brief doctors’ strike earlier this week.
In a notice dated May 5, 2026, and issued under the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651), the union told the Office of the President, the Ministry of Health, and the National Labour Commission (NLC) that it would embark on nationwide industrial action effective Tuesday, May 12, if its demands are not met. The letter was signed by John Kofi Nakoja, Chairman of the KBTH chapter.
The MELPWU action follows closely on the suspension of a strike by the Korle Bu Doctors Association (KODA), which withdrew outpatient services on Monday, May 4, over the exclusion of laboratory physicians from the Central Laboratory. KODA suspended that strike the same evening after hospital management provided assurances that physicians would be allowed to return to the facility. MELPWU’s notice now suggests that those assurances involved reversing the leadership structure in a manner the laboratory scientists’ union finds unacceptable, setting up a direct clash between the two professional groups over who controls the Central Laboratory.
According to MELPWU, the appointment of a medical laboratory scientist as Head of Department for the Central Laboratory formed part of binding resolutions reached at a high-level stakeholder meeting convened by the Ministry of Health on February 3, 2026. Those resolutions, it said, led to the suspension of an earlier planned strike by MELPWU and the Ghana Federation of Allied Health Professions (GHAFAP). The union now alleges that senior management at KBTH, including the Chief Executive Officer, Director of Medical Affairs, and Director of Human Resource Management, unilaterally reversed the appointment and replaced the medical laboratory scientist with a physician, in breach of those agreements.
“This action is a clear violation of good faith, administrative agreements, and professional governance structures,” the union stated.
MELPWU is demanding the immediate reinstatement of the medical laboratory scientist as head of laboratory services, strict adherence to the February 2026 ministry resolutions, and the establishment of a distinct leadership structure and a separate regulatory council for medical laboratory practitioners in Ghana. The union is also calling for the resignation or removal of KBTH Board Chairman Professor Titus Beyuo, Chief Executive Officer Dr Y.S. Adam, and Director of Medical Affairs Dr Frank Owusu-Sekyere, accusing all three of bias and conflict of interest.
Despite the firm ultimatum, MELPWU said it remains open to urgent engagement within the statutory notice period to avert a disruption to essential health services. Any nationwide laboratory strike would affect diagnostic and testing services at hospitals across Ghana, with potential consequences for patient care well beyond Korle-Bu.
