The Ghana Physician Assistants Association (GPAA) has temporarily called off its nationwide strike in protest against a proposed legislative amendment of Act 857 by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council.

The Association is unhappy with the legislation on the basis that it will subject them to supervision by the Medical and Dental Council, which may infringe on their freedom to operate independently.

The Association suspended the strike following an intervention by the National Labour Commission (NLC) which has directed the Ministry of Health to within 28 days meet with the Association to address its concerns.

This was confirmed by the National President of the Association, Peter Akuduge Ayamba during a press briefing.

“We are saying that based on the ruling and the intervention of the Labour Commission and the fact that we are law-abiding citizens and a union for that matter, we are calling on our membership to resume work.”

“The National Labour Commission heard us and has directed that within 28 days they should engage us and report to them on how to address the concerns that we have raised.”

“We are not happy as an association with the posture of the government and the fact that they have been dragging their feet all this while, that’s why we are where we are now.”

He also threatened the Association will resume the strike or resort to a work-to-rule policy if the ministry fails to meet their demands.

“We are temporarily calling off this strike and if by the deadline that has been given by the Labour Commission nothing is done, we will explore all other options.”

“So, we are saying that we will explore all other interventions which include our non-renewal position that we took, that with their intervention we had to come back.”

“We are also exploring the possibility of working to rule policy which means that we will do according to what we are supposed to do, nothing more nothing less,” he said.

Physician Assistants in Ghana declared a nationwide strike on July 19, 2023 withdrawing their services from all health facilities.

This strike created a void in most healthcare centers especially in rural areas, as nurses in these facilities were left with the difficult option of referring most cases because there were no physician assistants to attend to them. 

Patients were also left stranded during the period.