The locked lab at the Koforidua hospital
The Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists (GAMLS) has intensified its one week old nationwide strike, withdrawing services like blood transfusion and surveillance support.
According to the GAMLS, the action is to press home their demands for better recognition and service conditions, including salary discrepancies that have existed for six years.
A statement issued by the executive body of GAMLS said the first part of their strike is to ensure that loss of lives due to prolonged emergency provision services is prevented by deploying the work-to-rule on humanitarian grounds.
However, the association highlighted that some medical superintendents and directors decided to intimidate some of its members to the extent of threatening their lives during the initial stage of the strike, of which some reports have been made to the police.
“In order to avoid further confrontations, all laboratory services are hereby withdrawn with effect from Monday, 28th May, 2018. These include blood banking, surveys, surveillance and monthly returns into DHIMS 2 among others,” the statement said.
Strike Impact
The strike has had great consequences on hundreds of patients nationwide who could not have their medical tests conducted at public health facilities.
The Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital central medical lab was under lock and key with red cloth tied on both sides of the entrance when DAILY GUIDE visited the place.
Stranded patients who needed lab tests were left with no other choice than to go to private labs for their medical tests.
“This is frustrating, why can’t government solve their issues quickly so that they come back to work?” Augustus Acquah, who was at the central lab to run some blood tests, asked.
From the Eastern Region, Daniel Bampoe reported that the Koforidua Government Hospital’s lab was closed at about 9:00 am yesterday morning with no staff at post to comment on the matter, a phenomenon, he said, was evident across the other districts in the region.
Eric Kombat from Tamale narrated the seriousness of the strike as the medical laboratory scientist department at the Tamale Teaching Hospital was also locked.
He reported that some patients who were unaware of the intensified strike were seen going towards the department but later returned disappointed as lab technicians were not present.
The situation means that majority of the patients who do not have other options will, therefore, have to wait till the end of the strike to get their tests conducted.
From the Western Region, Emmanuel Opoku reported that patients who visited some health facilities in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis to access medical laboratory services were stranded as the laboratory technicians abandoned their centres in respect of the nationwide strike.
“What this means is laboratory technicians across all public hospitals and polyclinics will not be working until further notice,” a health worker at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital told DAILY GUIDE.
Ebo Bruce-Quansah from the Upper East Region reported that the affected patients who could not access lab services at the hospital resorted to seeking laboratory services from private lab companies.
The Regional Secretary of GAMLS, Nyame Boateng, who spoke with DAILY GUIDE, emphasized that lab technicians will continue to be on strike till their demands are met.
He said the group is not embarking on this strike to punish the public but rather to get government to do what is right to keep the laboratories running effectively.
“If we were lazy, we would have folded our arms if there were no reagents and equipment to run tests at the laboratory but we are asking that these demands are met so that we can serve the public well,” Mr Boateng told DAILY GUIDE.
I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr. from the Ashanti Region reported that medical care at various health institutions in the Region, especially Kumasi, suffered a jolt as a result of the indefinite industrial action by the regional chapter of GAMLS.
The immediate past president of GAMLS, Mr Thomas Gyampomah, told DAILY GUIDE that the current situation whereby monies generated from the medical laboratory scientists are used to service other areas in the hospitals, “whilst our outfit, which generated the funds, is neglected should change with laboratory accounts being created.”
According to him, the medical laboratory scientists across the country have resolved that they would return to work only after the appropriate authorities have responded positively to their pressing needs.
Accusation
The association has accused medical superintendents and directors of disrespecting their profession by employing unlicensed personnel to take their place in their absence and by so doing, endangering the general public.
According to the GAMLS, over 90 percent of laboratory processes in public health facilities in Ghana are not controlled, and this threatens the quality or accuracy of lab results churned out.
The laboratory technicians embarked on a partial withdrawal of their services across the country seven days ago but intensified it after a failed attempt to reach an amicable solution with authorities.