177 Cuban doctors heading to Ghana – Segbefia

The Health Ministry has revealed 177 Cuban doctors are heading to Ghana to assist in healthcare delivery as public sector doctors continue their strike.

Speaking at a media briefing Tuesday, the sector minister Alex Segbefia said other Cuban doctors who are already in the country and have completed their rotation will be retained “in order to reduce the pressure in quasi-government hospitals.”

The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) is on strike over their conditions of service. They have threatened to resign if the government failed to see to their demands.

“As we work to protect lives and restore normalcy, we are also retaining all the Cuban doctors who have completed their rotation and were programmed to leave for Cuba,” Segbefia stressed.

He also disclosed some retired doctors have also agreed to return to work.

The government has described the strike as “illegal” and has pulled out of negotiation because it insists it cannot be “coerced” to heed to the doctors’ demands.

However, the minister has appealed to the striking medical practitioners to return to the wards because “we cannot just go and fix a document and give to the doctors, it must go through a process, so stop the strike action and let us negotiate”.