Patients stranded at hospitals nationwide as health workers enforce strike action

Scores of patients have been left stranded in hospitals across the country as some health workers have embarked on strike Monday, September 21, 2020.

The nurses, midwives and other service providers followed through with their threats to withdraw their services over what they say is poor conditions of service.

Although the National Labour Commission (NLC) had secured an interlocutory injunction to prevent the action by the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), the aggrieved health workers say have not been officially served.

The striking groups include GRNMA, Ghana Physicians Assistants Association and Ghana Association of Registered Anaesthetists among others.

At the country’s number one referral centre, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, patients who had been left unattended lamented the struggle they have had to endure.

“They are telling us that because they are on strike we should take our patients away. But my question is where to,” a relative of a patient told JoyNews.

Another added that “We came around 7 am and went for our card. But they declined to give it to us because they are not admitting new case because they are on strike.”

Reports indicate the development remains unchanged in other regions across the country. This comes at a time when the health professionals are at the forefront of the fight against the novel coronavirus.

According to the groups, numerous negotiations and meetings on the improvement of their conditions of service have failed to yield the desired results.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here