Doctors On Strike Doctors in the public sector have declared an indefinite strike, effective Saturday, over what they

say, is the failure of the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to migrate them onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS). The Vice-President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr Kwabena Opoku-Adusei, said the National Executive Council of the association had directed its members across the country to lay down their tools until the right thing was done. Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Kumasi, Dr Opoku-Adusei accused the FWSC of not showing any evidence of migrating doctors onto the new salary structure, saying, We have no option but to embark on an industrial action. Making particular reference to the Chief Executive Officer of the FWSC, Mr George SmithGraham, Dr Opoku-Adusei said the FWSC boss was only propagating untruths about the GMA when the situation was clear that he was the major cause of the delay in the process. He appears more of a politician than a CEO, Dr Opoku-Adusei contended. At the end of their fifth National Executive Council meeting in Tamale on September 5, 2011, the GMA, in a press statement, asked the FWSC to show unequivocal evidence of migration onto the SSSS by October 7, 2011 for payment, including all arrears to be effected at the end of October 2011. The GMA cautioned that if all conditions were not met after October 7, 2011, the national executive of the association, taking cognisance of the frustration of its members, would declare a strike action. Dr Opoku-Adusei said for about two years now the GMA had gone through all the processes necessary for the implementation of the SSSS in the health sector but nothing positive had come out. He stated that notwithstanding the massive input doctors made into the job evaluation and analysis, the FWSC, which was to follow the process for implementation, only took delight in creating distortions about the system. He also made mention of two key issues of market premium and inducement, which the association thought would be addressed to pave way for doctors to be migrated onto the SSSS. But it appears the commission is not ready to address these two issues, he said. Dr Opoku-Adusei expressed regret that the anomalies in the final grade structure in the health sector which the GMA had pointed out to the commission had not been addressed.

He indicated that doctors had also been denied the 20 per cent increment of salaries across the board announced by the government recently. He stressed that it appeared doctors were being made to appear unimportant in the nation, a situation that was killing morale in the face of current harsh economic conditions.