A planned en masse strike by all public sector doctors in the country has been postponed for one month as negotiations continue.

The Ghana Medical Association(GMA) announced that they plan to lay down their tools, all 4,000 of them; on Ghana’s Republic Day, to protest their conditions of service.

However after a meeting with government, the GMA has decided to push the intended action forward to the 29th of July, as they continue to engage the Ministry of Health. They say the extension is a sign of good faith in the negotiations.

The Spokesman and Deputy General Secretary of the GMA, Dr Justice Duffu Yankson, told journalists after a meeting with government:

“Based on all that has happened in terms of negotiations, the good faith and all that has been shown by both parties and the fact that we also started negotiations this morning, together with the ground rules that we’ve all agreed to work with, the
general assembly has decided that our Takoradi deadline be moved forward by a month, specifically up to July 29, 2015.

“Within that period, we expect the employer to conclude, in detail, all the provisions that ought to be in the conditions of service document and have it properly signed”

However, they still plan to embark on it if their conditions are not met within the time frame given.

This temporary stay of execution is a relief, but it’s still a problem that we have to get this close to a complete collapse of the health sector.