Nurses and para-medical staff strike continuous at Central Hospital
Koforidua (Eastern Region) 18 July 2001
Despite a marathon meeting between a team of officials from Accra, the management and workers of the Koforidua Central Hospital on Monday, over the "work to rule" action adopted by the nurses and para-medical staff of the hospital since last Friday, the strike action continued on Tuesday.
When Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the hospital, the Male Medical and Children's Wards were virtually empty, the patients having been discharged on Friday, at the start of the "work to rule" action.
A source close to the hospital's administration said by mid-day, the leadership of the nurses and the para-medical staff had not communicated any change in their stand to them. It, however, declined to make further comments on the issue.
The nurses and para-medical staff of the Koforidua Central Hospital embarked on the "work to rule" action to demand for "a more proportionate" ratio in the payment of their Additional Duty Hour Allowance (ADHA) as paid to the medical doctors of the hospital.
Addressing the hospital staff, Dr Ken Sagoe, Director of Human Resource Development of the Ministry of Health (MOH) who led the Accra team, appealed to them to revert to their normal working schedules while efforts were being made to ratify the problem, which led to the strike action.
He said that after discussions with the management, an agreement had been reached that the Hospital contributes 31 million cedis to the amount released by MOH to enable them to pay a relatively acceptable ratio as paid to the medical doctors for April.
Dr Sagoe suggested to the hospital administration to establish a multi-disciplinary team, which would be fair and transparent to be in-charge of the monthly monitoring and calculation of the amount due any worker of the hospital entitled to the ADHA.
He advised those, who would be nominated to serve on the committee, to ensure that anybody whose name appeared on their list had duly worked the extra hours authorised by management and backed by a duty roaster.
Dr Sagoe emphasised that the ADHA was not another form of salary enhancement, adding that those on study, maternity and annual leave were not entitled to it.
Dr Aaron Offei, Eastern Regional Director of Health Services, explained that the problem being faced with the payment of the ADHA was due to the "general cut in the money allocated by the Ministry of Finance to the MOH for distribution to the health facilities for the April allowances".
The MOH was therefore putting in place a new system to ensure that it would be able to pay for all the ADHA claims for May and subsequent months, he said, adding; "if there is the need for extra funding, government would look for it elsewhere".
GRi…/
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Tepa (Ashanti Region) 18 July 2001
The Ahafo-Ano North District of Ashanti recorded 34 cases of AIDS last year, Alhaji M. B. Al-Hassan, District Co-ordinating Director announced at the weekend.
He was speaking at a durbar organised by the District AIDS Prevention Committee and the Peer Education Committee of the Tepa Senior Secondary School and Mabang Secondary/Technical School for school children, artisans and farmers at Tepa.
The programme was aimed at creating awareness on the dangers of HIV/AIDS and how best to prevent it.
Alhaji Al-Hassan stressed the need for teachers, parents and community leaders to have the moral courage to address the issue of adolescent sexuality and to let children know the dangers involved.
Mr Joshua Rhine, Resident Peace Corps Volunteer in the District, expressed satisfaction at the involvement of students from the two secondary schools in the AIDS education, pointing out that they were the most vulnerable since they fell within the sexually active group.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 July 2001
A 10-day workshop on research into malaria control opened in Accra on Tuesday with a call on African scientists and researchers to translate research results into documents, which can be used for policy formulation.
Dr. Melville George, World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative in Ghana said getting research findings into the policy agenda of African countries is critical to dealing with malaria, a leading public health problem with a high socio-economic burden.
He explained that research on all aspects of malaria control, from drug efficacy and resistance to social science research on the acceptability of insecticide treated materials, is one of the strategies put forward globally for the implementation of the Roll Back Malaria initiative, which aims at controlling the disease.
"Providing services based on informed decisions through research is key to the success of the Roll Back Malaria, " Dr. George said.
Some 25 researchers and health workers from the continent, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Ghana are attending the workshop, being organised by the WHO.
The WHO representative urged the participants to broaden their horizon and look into the underlying causes of malaria from the stage of exposure to infection.
He mentioned early treatment, finding appropriate mechanisms for home-based care as well as improving referral services for complicated malaria as areas that need to be further tackled.
Dr. John Gyapong, Director of the Research Unit of the Ministry of Health, said the focus of malaria treatment in the country is on prompt diagnosis and adequate management.
He called for the strengthening of collaboration between herbalists and doctors to tackle diseases such as malaria.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 18 July 2001
The Eastern Regional AIDS Co-ordinator, Dr Sampson Ofori has declared as unlawful steps by some churches to compel prospective couples to undergo compulsory HIV/AIDS test before marriage.
He pointed out that while churches could have their own procedures of contracting marriages for their members, compulsory HIV/AIDS testing was, however, against the National AIDS Policy and the fundamental human rights of the prospective couples.
Dr Ofori was reacting to a question during an open forum at a Key Stakeholders Session on HIV/AIDS, organised by the New Juaben District Response Initiative (DRI), at Koforidua on Tuesday.
He said an HIV/AIDS test was a voluntary exercise, which required intensive pre-testing counselling before it was undertaken.
Dr Ofori identified ignorance of the disease, poverty and wars on the African continent, as some of the major causes of the high prevalence.
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