The Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists (GAMLS) has said it will not rescind its decision to embark on a strike despite intimidation from the National Labour Commission (NLC).

Speaking on Joy FM, Thursday, the President of the Association, Dr Abu Abudu Rahamani, said if the NLC thinks it is right to sanction them over what the union disapproves of, then GAMLS is ready to go all out for the right thing to be done.

"When you are fighting for a good course, you fear nothing; we can sacrifice today because we are thinking of our future. We can sacrifice today because the future is what we are looking out for. We don’t want to be…that the future will suffer.

"We have laid our issues before the government and the ministry. So if our employer, the ministry, knows that this issue has been with them for the past three to four years, on countless occasions. We have had meetings upon meetings, sometimes we go, and they don’t mind us," he added.

His comment comes after the National Labour Commission (NLC) threatened to withdraw salaries and terminate the appointment of health personnel involved in the ongoing nationwide strike.

The Executive Secretary of the NLC emphasised that "these individuals could lose their salaries for the period they are not working. They could have their appointment terminated. They could be charged with the loss or damages arising from or as a result of their strike.”

Last week, the local branch of GAMLS protested against a hospital’s management's decision to post two medical officers, Lesley Osei and Eunice Agyemang Ahmed, to the Laboratory Services Directorate to fill vacancies there.

The two were appointed as Clinical Haematologists at the Laboratory Services Directorate. However, protestors argue that members of the Association who qualify for the vacant positions have been sidelined.

The Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists (GAMLS) has refuted claims that its members are embarking on an illegal strike to demand the removal of two health personnel from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

Meanwhile, the NLC in a communique ordered laboratory scientists nationwide to call off their “illegal” strike action and return to their various working posts.

But in sharp rebuttal, the President of GAMLS insists that its members are embarking on a legal strike action.

"We are not breaking the law. It is not illegal when you have not gone through the right process, you haven’t informed the right authorities, what is expected of you. We have done all we need to do.

"The authorities are aware, even the Labour Commission itself, a similar case if not the same case is with them for the past two or three years.

"So if a case is already there and the same case comes up again, and the one who is supposed to adjudicate says that it is illegal, then there is no law in this particular case," he stated.