The industrial action by members of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) enters its 10th day today, with reports that most public health facilities have been deserted. There have been reports of loss of lives in some public health facilities after the GMA directed its members not to accept new cases until the resolution of its impasse with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC). There are also reports that doctors in some government health facilities have taken advantage of the strike by directing patients who report for their care to their private clinics and hospitals. From Sekondi/Takoradi, Moses Aklorbutu reports that doctors report to work but ask patients to meet them in their private hospitals. Some of the doctors are also alleged to have engaged the services of services of some nurses at the public hospitals to re-direct the patients to their private hospitals or clinics. Some hospital administrators told the Daily Graphic that the attitude of the doctors was affecting the internally generated funds of the hospitals which were much needed for the day-to-day operations of the hospitals. Checks from other parts of the Western Region, such as Tarkwa, Bibiani, Enchi and the other smaller towns, however indicated that doctors were at post attending to patients. When the Daily Graphic visited the Ridge Hospital in Accra on Sunday, many people seeking medical attention were being turned away and asked to go to other hospitals, Kofi Yeboah reports. No health official was eager to comment on the situation, but some sources said doctors had not been at post, hence the referral of new cases. In the same quiet attitude, health officials at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital declined to comment on the current situation, but it was observed that the usual busy atmosphere at the hospital was missing. In some areas, however, some doctors were attending to clients, since the doctors did not want to worsen the condition of poor communities. Kwame Asare Boadu reports from Kumasi that there were unconfirmed reports that some lives had been lost at some health facilities as a result of the ongoing industrial action by members of the GMA. The nurses who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic did not, however, give details of the figures. The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), which used to be a beehive of activity, was a pale shadow of itself as the facility had virtually been deserted. A visit by the Daily Graphic to the hospital on Sunday, however, indicated that some doctors were rendering skeletal services with respect to emergencies on patients who were already on admission. Though there had not been withdrawal of patients, the hospital was no longer receiving patients. Even the Accident and Emergency Centre was without the usual activity. The scenario of service paralysis was also witnessed in other state-run facilities in the city. The KATH Polyclinic, the Manhyia Hospital, the Suntreso Hospital and the Kumasi South Hospital had become ghosts of their old selves. At the KATH Polyclinic, this reporter saw the main entrance shut. A security person there said no one was inside, meaning that activities had been completely grounded. As the public facilities remain almost “dead,” private hospitals have witnessed massive attendance. From the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua, A. Kofoya Tetteh reports that only serious cases and patients on admission at the Regional Hospital are being catered for. Patients whose conditions are not all that serious are, however, being taken care of by a single medical assistant, while most of the sick have turned to private hospitals in the municipality, such as the St Joseph’s Hospital, the SDA Hospital, Koforidua, and the Oman Clinic. At the Regional Hospital, a nurse on duty said the only medical assistant had willingly accepted to help and although the number of patients had reduced, he had a lot on his hand. She said the situation would not have been serious if the other medical assistants who had been posted to mini clinics outside Koforidua had been at the hospital. According to her, although the nurses and other paramedics were working, it had not been easy, since the doctors should be available to guide them. An 86-year-old man from one of the surrounding villages, Opanyin Yaw Adu, who reported with stomach pains at the Regional Hospital on Friday, was seen leaving the facility cursing the doctors for not attending to him. In Ho, some doctors are only responding to emergency calls from nurses on duty to attend to in-patients, Tim Dzamboe reports. A visit to the Out-Patients Department (OPD) of the Ho Municipal and the Volta Regional hospitals on Sunday revealed that the units were virtually without patients. The nurses told the Daily Graphic that doctors did not work on Saturdays and Sundays except on call from the wards. When contacted, the Medical Superintendent of the Ho Municipal Hospital, Dr Kofi Gafatsi Normanyo, confirmed that doctors were only attending to in-patients at the wards.