The Parliamentary aspirant for Tolon Constituency Mr Ali has commended Doctors and members of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) for calling off their strike action.
According to him, the decision by the doctors to return to work is laudable since their short stay off work had resulted in several deaths.
The Ghana Medical Association has called off its three week old strike after the executive council met with leaders of the Ghana Medical Association on Friday.
After their deliberations it was agreed that all members are to restore full services from Monday.
It could be recall that doctors withdrew their services on July 30, 2015 in protest over the absence of codified conditions of service.
They were demanding a signed document detailing a number of entitlements to be given to them as part of their conditions of service.
Part of their demands included 40% of basic salaries as accommodation allowance per month, 20 percent as core duty facilitation allowance, 30% clothing allowance, 20% maintenance allowance, 20% utility allowance, 50% as professional allowance and 25% special risk allowance and vehicle tax exemption to doctors.
The proposal was condemned severally by government spokespersons some of whom described the demands as outrageous.
President John Mahama, time without number insisted he was not going to authorize payment for an unbudgeted amount of money to be paid doctors or any other public sector worker.
He also instructed the doctors to call off the strike and return to the negotiation table, something the doctors refused to do.
As a contingency measure the Ministry of Health announced government’s plans to recruit retired doctors as well as doctors from Cuba to provide health care services to Ghanaian patients at least for the time being.
According to Mr. Ali, whilst the back and forth continued between government and the doctors, the impact of the strike was felt at various referral hospitals across the country as there were reported cases of deaths as a result of the absence of doctors.
Mr. Ali averred that we cannot ignore the decision by the membership of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) to call off their industrial action since their decision, had nothing to do with either the threats issued by the health minister or the unguarded remarks of serial callers on the payroll of the ruling party.
He said the way and manner the President and other important personalities intervened to changed the game and the doctors returned to their consulting rooms even as negotiations continue must be commended.
?It is my prayer that government has learnt adequate lessons from the industrial action and would therefore shy away from the blunders which prolonged a strike action which could have been curtailed much earlier, had the right attitude from government been brought to bear upon the negotiations,? he said.
He also indicated that the negotiations, which are expected to begin as the doctors stay in their consulting rooms, would be devoid of ungentlemanly conduct as exhibited earlier and that the leakage of confidential stuff to the media and the unleashing of propaganda hounds on the doctors did not speak well of the government which was thought to be behind some of the anomalies which fouled the ambience as the negotiations went on.
He again said cudos to the doctors for taken such bold decision to go back to work.
By Prosper Agbenyega
