The MamaYe Advocacy Coalition has called on the Ministry of Health to quickly find an amicable solution to the impasse over the conditions of service of doctors for the sake of pregnant women and newborns.

Members of the Ghana Medical Association partially withdrew their services on Monday accusing the government of failing to meet their demands on new conditions of service. The medical doctors intensified the strike on Friday, refusing to attend to emergency cases in public health facilities across the country.

But a statement signed by the Executive Director of the Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR) and Advocacy Advisor of the coalition, Vicky T. Okine on Friday, expressed disappointment at the failure of the two groups to settle their difference, leading to an escalated stalemate.

“We are in critical times and cannot afford to put the lives of pregnant women and babies at risk for personal and professional differences. The strike by medical doctors has already had crippling effects on the underprivileged who depend solely on public health institutions for curative and palliative care. Many poor people have become pawns in this game of negotiation and this must stop.”

The statement said: “The coalition is calling on all stakeholders to desist from taking entrenched positions which would only result in the loss of lives. We are appealing to government and doctors to find a lasting solution to this crisis. The continued absence of the public medical practitioners from their duty posts is seriously affecting the masses, many of whom cannot afford private care.”

The statement said the Coalition believes that the Ghana Medical Association should demand what is due them but in a manner which does not put lives of people at risk. They further urged the government to go to the negotiation table in good faith with an honest disposition to ensure that the lives of people, especially pregnant women, are safeguarded.