Ghana doctors union to suspend three-week strike

Doctors in Ghana will suspend a three-week strike they called to press for better conditions of service, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) said on Friday.

The decision will come as a relief to President John Mahama’s government, which is under pressure to control spending and stick to the terms of an International Monetary Fund deal aimed at reviving economic growth and ending a fiscal crisis.

The strike was the first major test of whether the government would adhere to the terms of the three-year programme before talks with other unions who complain that salaries are undermined by inflation of nearly 18 percent.

“The ongoing withdrawal of out-patient and emergency services by members of the GMA is suspended,” from 0800 GMT on Monday, a GMA statement said.

Talks with the government should continue, it said.

Ghana’s doctors say the government has failed to deliver a conditions of service document to define their terms of work including how they should be remunerated for additional hours. They also accuse the government of negotiating in bad faith.