Doctors at the Upper West Regional hospital have laid down their tools due to what is believed to be the removal of allowances given them through internally generated funds of the hospital mynewsgh.com has learnt.
The leadership of the hospital are tight- lipped over the matter but mynewsgh.com can confirm that as at 11:00 am on Monday May 8, 2017, all doctors at the hospital could not be found at the hospital wards leaving patients to their fate.
Insiders told mynewsgh.com that the situation is nothing short of “medical politics” especially with the appointment of Dr Barnabas Gandau as the Medical Director who was appointed by the Ghana Health Service last year through an interview process.
Dr Gandau came up tops against another doctor in the person of Fofie. This sparked off unrest as some of the nurses thought that Dr Fofie should have been given the position of a Medical Director due to what they perceived to a “meritorious” service he rendered the region for a period of seven years since graduating from the medical school. This internal rivalry escalated till Dr Fofie sought transfer to the Ridge Hospital in Accra.
The cause of the current strike action by doctors is as a result of a new system put in place by the Doctor Gandau. He started bringing in more doctors into the regional hospital and employs the method of internally generated funds to motivate them to stay and work. It appears some people including top ranking officers at the regional directorate of Ghana Health Service were not happy with the move. Dr Gandau is seen to be operating unilaterally in total disregard to regional health directorate especially his latest move to bring in doctors from the other parts of the country with the use of internally generated fund.
Nurses last month threatened to go on strike since according to the nurses at the regional hospital the use of the internally generated fund to pay doctors to motivate them to stay has resulted in the hospital’s ability to procure essentials and medical equipment for the day to day running of the hospital.
When our reporters visited the hospital on Monday doctors had not reported to work as at about 11: am. Only the medical director Dr Barnabas Gandau could be seen to be dealing with patients at the hospital at the outpatient department section.
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