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Junior Doctors Wild Over Pay

By Daily Guide
Health Junior Doctors Wild Over Pay
JUL 28, 2015 LISTEN

Junior Doctors from various hospitals in the country yesterday pitched camp at the Controller and Accountant General's Department to demand the payment of their 11-month unpaid salaries.

The doctors, numbering 91, who were posted to various hospitals last year after their one-year housemanship, had not received any salaries from government.

They insisted that they would make the place their home until their accumulated salaries were paid by the Controller and Accountant General's Department.

According to them, they had done the necessary paper work to enable government pay them their salary arrears; but they were yet to receive any notifications from their banks.

The angry doctors expressed their mistrust in the government, who they claimed had failed to fulfil the several promises it made to them.

They were seen at the entrance of the Controller in the Ministries enclave as early as 6am, defying the rain.

Their demand was the immediate payment of their salaries which was long overdue.

Spokesperson for the junior doctors, Dr Nana Kissi Attafuah, said the group was not there to protest but just to collect the money due them from the department.

He complained bitterly about the lack of commitment on the part of government to make sure their salaries were paid.

'Some salaries came but when it did, it was just for one month. We don't want it that way, we want all our arrears to be paid (sic),' Dr Attafuah said.

He asked, 'I have passed my exams, and I am a doctor. I have worked for the past 11 months without pay as I speak to you. I have done night duties and I am on an empty stomach. Can you imagine what will happen to me psychologically?'


Police Presence
The police from the operations department were equally visible at the Controller and Accountant General's Department to ensure law and order.

About fifty men in uniform were seen standing at every vantage point, from the Ministries junction through to the entrance of the department.

Some were directing the traffic that had been created by the presence of the doctors, while others were standing at the entrance controlling the flow of people who entered the department.

Accra Regional Police Spokeswoman, ASP Effia Tenge, who was at the scene, said the police gathered intelligence that some doctors would be besieging the Controller and Accountant General's Department and acted accordingly.

She said the police were there to ensure that those who were coming would be protected and that properties and lives would not be endangered.

'We are not saying that they are doctors so we should not come. We never know what can happen once they are in a group. We can never predict the strength or power of any gathering so we are here in our numbers,' she said.

Grievances
Some of the doctors who spoke to DAILY GUIDE shared their frustrations at having to live 11 months without receiving their salaries.

Dr Christian Agbosu, a junior doctor at the Police Hospital, narrated how tedious it was to get their identification cards and biometric registration for their names to be added to the mechanised payroll.

'Getting our ID and biometric registration took us about four months and I believe that is the last process that any government worker has to go through. We did that two months ago,' he said.

He said their counterparts in Kumasi had been paid their salaries, while those in Accra and other regions had not received theirs.

'We are also here today to get our money either in cheque or it should reflect in our accounts. We need full salaries for all 91 people,' he said.

'We know that the moment you do your biometric, at least the next month we should get out salaries. But it's been two months,' he said.

Long Term Resolution
Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Victor Bampoe, and the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu, held a closed door meeting with the leadership of the group, together with the Controller and Accountant General, which revealed that 64 of the doctors were on the mechanised system while the other 27 were not.

The Labour Minister, who admitted government had taken too long in resolving the issue, assured the doctors that the 64 of them would be paid their salaries by 4:30 pm Wednesday.

He added that with the other 27 doctors, there would be a mechanism for them to receive compensation while the Controller and Account General finalised the process for them to get their salaries in August.

Mr Idrissu said government did not want a temporary resolution of the matter but a long-term one.

'Accordingly, the department, working with ministries of health and employment, has concluded guidelines for payment of medical association into the mechanised payroll system to solve the problem for good,' he said.

He said it was expected that by the new guidelines, when doctors in the health sector complete their studies and are posted to the medical authorities, the institutions they work for would bring the list of medical officers on housemanship two months before they leave medical school to the Ministry of Health.

This would be forwarded to the Ministry of Finance, and within two weeks, a clearance from the Finance Ministry would be issued.

The doctors, who did not seem satisfied, agreed with the arrangement, indicating that they were waiting till Wednesday 4:30 pm for their money to hit their bank accounts.

'We are holding the minister to his word,' they said.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
Pix by Emmanuel Kubi

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