THE CRUX OF DOCTOR'S AGITATION, GMA DOES NOT WANT GAP CLOSED, With other public sector workers

SENIOR medical officers in public hospitals will earn between GH¢4,234.17 and GH¢4,845.47 per month if they are migrated onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), as against their present existing salary of between GH¢3,469.53 and GH¢3,970.44.

Junior medical officers, depending on their levels, will also earn between GH¢2,556.90 and GH¢3,891.91.

However, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) is demanding 40 per cent more than what the government has offered on the table, which is currently the subject of negotiation between the association and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC).

Members of the GMA have rejected the offer, partly because they are not comfortable with the migration, since the proposed pay structure under the SSSS will bridge the gap between their salaries and those of other public sector workers, particularly senior nursing officers, some of whom have Master’s degrees and have served for 25 years or more.

According to a document made available to the Daily Graphic, specialist doctors who, hitherto, earned between GH¢2,824 and GH¢3,384 per month under the Health Services Salary Scheme (HSSS), will, under the SSSS, earn monthly salaries between GH¢4,234.17 and GH¢4,845. 47, making doctors one of the best paid among all public sector workers.

The GMA declared a nation-wide strike, effective Saturday, October 8, 2011, over what it described as distortions in the grading structure of the SSSS, as well as unscientific determination of market premium and inducement by the FWSC.

The strike entered its 12th day yesterday, a situation which has prompted the President John Evans Atta Mills and other well-meaning individuals and groups to appeal to the doctors to resume work.

The Ghana Coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations in Health (GCNH) has dragged the GMA to court to compel its members in public hospitals to return to work.

Similarly, the National Labour Commission (NLC) last Monday ordered a compulsory arbitration between the GMA and the FWSC and the two bodies were given 48 hours to come to an agreement.

The Vice-President of the GMA, Dr Poku Adusei, however, debunked suggestions that doctors had rejected the above figures, asking, “Who said doctors wanted to go on a single spine? It was a new policy government put into place and it did job evaluations itself.”

According to him, the GMA had not even got to the point where issues of percentage increases had been raised.

“Doctors never asked to be graded using a single spine; it’s the government that brought it to replace the HSSS and it must stop the deception and attend to the issues at stake,” he stated.

He said at the same time that the GMA was undergoing compulsory arbitration with the NLC, it was also gearing up to answer the substantive case filed by the GCNH.

Asked whether the GMA, while engaging in compulsory arbitration, would call off the strike and return to work while negotiations continued, he said no collective decision had been taken yet.

“Since we are working in the confines of the country’s labour laws, as well as procedures, all doctors will have to appear before the law court to answer the charges before they take their next line of action,” Dr Adusei said.

SOURCE: DELLA RUSSEL OCLOO, DAILY GRAPHIC, THUR OCT 20, 2011