The psychiatric nurses in the capital city, Accra, have declared a sit-down strike, over the failure of government to pay their salary arrears.
The nurses also say they will announce a fully-fledged strike if their demands are not met by Friday.
The psychiatric nurses say they have negotiated with the government over the payment of the arrears but despite the assurances, their situation shows no signs of improvement.
The spokesman for the aggrieved nurses, told Citi News: “Judging by what we have done, diplomatic steps and everything – they talk about us being essential workers. We know we are, we know how important our work is. As essential workers, we need to be paid what is due us. Essential workers cannot come to work when they are hungry.
According to him, the quality of healthcare given to the inmates of the Accra psychiatric hospital may be seriously affected if the care givers are not motivated to do their work.
“We deal with psychologically tortured patients and if we are not well how do we care for them. We don’t want the inefficiency of government to be put on these innocent patients. That is why we are starting a sit-down strike today.
We’ll be here today [Monday} and we’ll be here tomorrow. We’ll be here until Friday. If the government doesn’t pay us by Friday, we have no option but to go and sit at home.”
The Ghana Medical Association declared a strike following a breakdown in negotiations with government over their conditions of service.
The situation appears to have worsened in recent days following verbal attacks between the General Secretary of the GMA and NDC communicators.
The National Council of the Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association also announced a strike because of alleged discrepancies on their placement on the Single Spine Salary Structure.