The Ghana Association of Biomedical Laboratory Scientists (GABMLS) has declared a nationwide strike over discrepancies and distortions in their placement on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS). The decision was taken at a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Accra on Wednesday, November 9, 2011. A statement issued by the Association said the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) have ignored calls to have their concerns resolved before migration of members onto the SSSS. The health group demands that the MOH and FWSC review placement of members on the Single Spine Salary Structure “as they have done for other clinical groups like the Nurses and Pharmacists. “We have also observed the employment of subjective and discriminatory methods by the FWSC and our employers to review our grades downward and review upwards the grades of other clinical groups such as nurses, pharmacists and doctors on the basis that we do not have a regulator”. The statement said members cannot be blamed or punished “for the inability of the Parliament of Ghana to pass the Health Professions Regulatory Bill which is before them into a law”. According to the GABMLS, “all our inputs channeled through the Health Service Worker Union (HSWU) of TUC have simply been ignored and this has made us lose confidence in the HSWU's ability to negotiate on our behalf”. Luv News checks indicate members of the Association in the Ashanti region have carried through the industrial action. Executive member, Michael Owusu says the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital’s blood bank, diagnostic and pathology laboratories will be hardest hit if the concerns are not addressed. A biomedical scientist carries out laboratory tests on human samples to help clinicians diagnose illness and evaluate the effectiveness of treatment.