Striking Doctors Want Ghana To Retrogress... - Anim Piesie

A member of the Government's Communication Team says the strike action by the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) is intended to simply slow down the progress of the economy. Bernard Anim Piesie opines that though the current administration has been very honest and open in its negotiations with the striking doctors regarding their conditions of service, they (GMA) want to hold government to ransom for no apparent reason. Speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo", he reitereated that President John Dramani Mahama's refusal to accede to the demands of the doctors because their demands fall outside this year's budget is in the interest of the health sector in particular and the nation at large. According to him, if the doctors' claim they are not expecting their conditions of service to take effect this year, then they should patiently wait on the government to factor their conditions of service in the 2016 budget. Earlier last week, the president appeared to have angered the doctors even more when he stated quite strongly that he will not exceed budgetary allocations for wages, allowances and salaries for public sector workers. "Any agreements that are 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," President Mahama said. Unfazed by his (Mahama's) comments, the GMA shot back saying the president "has not been well informed of the happenings on the negotiation table." But the NDC Communicator noted that government has done nothing wrong by not conceding to the doctors' demands, and believed their strike is illegal. “What wrong has government committed...Nothing hinders them to resume work because the door is still open. The government has not posed a threat that it won’t hold talks with you…I emphatically cannot agree with the doctors....the doctors are only seeking after the retrogression of the economy,” Anim-Piesie said.

Source: Adu Gyamfi Ameyaw/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana