The National Labor Commission (NLC), is expected to meet the management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), the Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists (GALMS), and the Health Ministry next week.
The meeting will seek to find an amicable solution to the stand-off over the posting of two hematologists to the laboratory service department of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
The Laboratory Scientists have been on a sit-down strike for close to a week now, in protest against the decision.
Authorities have resorted to other private laboratories to meet the needs of patients who require such services.
In an interview with the Executive Secretary of NLC, Ofosu Asamoah, urged the members to resume work ahead of the meeting.
“The Ministry of Health was handling it earlier, so we were expecting that it would be solved by now. But as it stands, there is a need for us to step in. In the meantime, we want them to suspend the strike,” he stated.
Laboratory Scientists at KATH began a one-week sit-down strike last week to protest the posting of two medical officers to the Laboratory Services Directorate of the hospital.
Calls by the Ministry of Health and management of KATH for the scientists to resume work for dialogue to begin have yielded no results.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists has announced that the strike would be escalated nationwide from Wednesday, May 26, 2021.
Speaking to the National Public Relations Officer of the Association, Dennis Adu-Gyasi, said the decision was taken at an emergency meeting with its members.
“What is happening at KATH is an affront on the practice of medical laboratory science in Ghana. The leadership of Komfo Anokye is not ready to give in to the request of the scientists over there, and it is still imposing the medical officers on the professionals. We think it is a matter that needs to be taken up at the national level. We think that if by Wednesday nothing happens, we will take it [issue] up and escalate the industrial action on a national scale.”
