Doctors’ strike: Expect more deaths – Labour expert
More Ghanaians are going to die in the coming days if government does not reconsider its stance on the strike of medical doctors in Ghana, a labour expert Mohammed Afum has warned.
“If the posture of the president continues a lot of lives will be lost,” Afum warned.
Three people have already died at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as a result of the strike which started last week. The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has warned it is going to escalate the strike by discharging patients as well as stop seeing to emergency cases from August 13.
President John Mahama in a reply to the aggrieved doctors, who are agitating for improved conditions of service, said his government is not ready to spend more than what has been budgeted for the fiscal period.
“Any agreement that is reached in respect of allowances or conditions of services would have to be appropriately captured in the budget…and I want to say for emphasis I will not authorize any expenditure on wages and compensation not provided for in the budget,” Mahama stated Wednesday.
He added: “Fiscal discipline requires that not a single pesewa is spent on remuneration outside what has been budgeted for and this goes for both Article 71 Office holders and those on the single spine… I am determined to hold the line no matter the political cost.”
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