A Doctor
JUNIOR DOCTORS at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, have declared an indefinite strike action beginning today, Tuesday March 20.
The decision to embark on the action, according to sources, was taken at an emergency meeting held at the premises of E&T department of the hospital at about 5:45pm when management of the hospital had closed from work.
DAILY GUIDE sources at the meeting indicated that the strike was declared in protest against the current poor working conditions at the hospital.
The junior doctors, the paper gathered, were not enthused about the frequent power outages at the hospital, particularly at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Centre constructed by former President John Agyekum Kufuor.
Sources told DAILY GUIDE that the doctors were unhappy about some of the operating tables at the A&E centre not working.
The paper gathered that only two of the five operating tables at the centre are currently working, thereby frustrating the efforts of the doctors.
The junior doctors, DAILY GUIDE sources said, had severally notified the management of the hospital about the anomalies but nothing concrete had been done about them.
Unable to contain the situation any longer, the junior doctors, who carry out their duties mostly at the centre, decided to lay down their tools indefinitely to put pressure on the management to address the issues.
Hospital management was not immediately available for comments.
It would be recalled that the junior doctors, about two years ago, brought healthcare delivery at the nation’s second largest hospital to a standstill when they went on strike in protest against their unpaid fuel allowances.
From Morgan Owusu, Kumasi
