Audio By Carbonatix
After four months of negotiations, government has completed conditions of service with doctors following a crippling strike in June which lasted for more than three weeks.
Doctors working in public hospitals across the country will from January next year enjoy their first ever documented conditions of service since the Ghana Health Service was formed in 1996.
Government and the Ghana Medical Association have refused to reveal the content of the signed document which was signed yesterday.
Government had said it was keen to clinch a deal with the doctors and make history as the political administration that handed doctors a codified set of conditions of service.
The document is expected to properly spell out both financial and non-financial components of their engagement, as well as improve service delivery.
The GMA embarked on a strike which saw doctors abandon hospitals for over three-weeks. They first withdrew services to Out-Patient Department followed by a withdrawal of emergency services.
They also threatened to resign en masse.
Except for a two-week mortuary fees scrapped off for a dead doctor, they claim there are no codified conditions of service. Even when their spouses or children get sick they are made to pay for the expenses involved in taking care of them, they claimed.
They therefore demanded conditions of service and proposed, among other things a 40% increase in their basic salary as accommodation allowance as well as 100, 90 and 80 gallons of fuel per month for the different levels of the profession.
They also requested 50% of basic salary per month as professional allowance, a 30% of their basic salary every month as clothing allowance.
Some government officials described the demands as outrageous. President Mahama also vowed not to authorise payments outside the budget.
Two of Ghana's ex-presidents- Jerry Rawlings and John Kufuor- as well as the Asantehene all intervened and asked the doctors to return to work.
The doctors resumed work after repeated assurances from government that codified conditions of service will be signed in no time.
Latest Stories
-
England midfielder Henderson joins Chelsea
2 hours -
Como agree ÂŁ31m deal to sign Chalobah from Chelsea
3 hours -
Semenyo hails Maresca style of play as ‘music to my ears’
3 hours -
Ex-Man City striker Dzeko, 40, pens new Schalke deal
3 hours -
Pochettino agrees US manager contract extension
3 hours -
French, Arabic, Chinese not compulsory – Education Ministry
3 hours -
Building cost inflation rises to 3.1% – ÂÂMaterial prices drive construction costs
3 hours -
Ghana Scholarship Authority begins 2026/27 academic year interviews
4 hours -
Ghana risks underdevelopmentas infrastructure spending falls short, ISSER warns
4 hours -
Pan-African Parliament launches 3 model laws to advance continental legislative harmonisation
4 hours -
Ghana Manganese Company projects 700,000 tonnes monthly production in August
4 hours -
Cedi depreciates further but maintains a firm grip on forex support
4 hours -
Constitution review must rise above partisan politics — Prof Prempeh
4 hours -
Ghana’s revenue reforms failing structural test  – Prof Godfred Bokpin
4 hours -
Don’t rush Constitutional Review, give Ghanaians enough time to be heard – Prof Prempeh
4 hours