Monday,
August 3, 2015
Folks, the perennial striker
actions embarked on by Ghanaian doctors working in public health institutions should
set the stage for the government to privatize public health institutions and enforce
other measures aimed at curtailing the enormous pressure being put on it and
the Consolidated Fund. The current strike action by members of the Ghana
medical Association (GMA) should be the clarion call to change the existing
paradigm so those who cannot fit in can go into private practice to stop
harassing us all with their huge demands for improved service conditions. In
private practice, they will get to know what it takes to function as doctors.
No pampering of anybody!!
Interestingly, members of the
Ghana Bar Association hardly go on strike, apparently because they will do so
at their own risk. Their counterparts on the Bench (State Attorneys) are on
strike, causing much headache for the system.
It is clear that recourse to
strikes by civil or public servants paid from the Consolidated Fund is so
attractive that it can easily be turned into a political tool to damage
government's interests and image. Dirty politics is done this way. Of course,
labour agitations and withdrawal of services are guaranteed, but in our part of
the world, they have become too fashionable.
I blame the government for not
being proactive enough to forestall such agitations and labour unrests. I think
that the various officials at the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies could
have done better in hob-nobbing with organized labour as soon as any
contentious issue crops up so discussions at the formative stages could
pre-empt an escalation of the situation.
More often than not, though, such
officials harden their stance and either disregard the early warning signs or
seek to twist arms. They fail to nip the issues in the bud and they simmer to
boil over, leading to the withdrawal of services by organized labour. And when
that happens, the citizens suffer needlessly and push the blame to the
government of the day. And the government itself "suffers" all the
more!!
Government officials appear to be
too "stiff", insensitive, and intemperate in dealing with organized
labour until the matter worsens when they seek to use ad hoc measures to solve
problems. Such desperate moves only worsen matters. We see so in the case of
the junior doctors!!
Government alone shouldn't take
the blame, though. Organized labour, especially their leaders, are also
culpable for various reasons. It is true that service conditions aren't as good
as organized labour expect, but it doesn't mean that strike actions should be
used to get their pound of flesh. But that is the norm, not the exception.
There is no doubt in my mind that
some in organized labour have political interests and persuasions contrary and
hostile to the those of the government, and they quickly manipulate the labour front
to politicize issues in the hope that they can use strike actions to make the
government unpopular. Such elements are all over the place; but they are only
being mischievous because whatever negative backlash falls out from their
strike actions will affect the country as well.
Using strike actions—as is the
case of the Ghana Medical Association—will not solve systemic problems unless a
miracle happens. In a democracy, better means should be used. No miracle will
happen.
It is now clear that the Ghana
Medical Association's reasons for going on strike are likely to cast the
Association itself in a bad light, especially if we consider the demands made
(See
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Exclusive-GMA-s-list-of-demands-for-doctors-372584).
Outrageous as these demands may
be regarded, they speak a lot about the flaws in our system. Just because those
doctors are being supported by the Consolidated Fund—and from how everyone sees
the politicians fleecing that Fund—isn't it a matter of course for the doctors
to demand more than the government can grant them? But they will go this way
because they have more to gain from their strike action than in remaining at
post, at least, if we consider the political implications and the fact that
some of the bigwigs in the GMA are politicians-in-disguise (just as it is in
the case of the so-called Men-of-God).
MY REACTION
There is no need for the
government to continue "managing" the so-called hospitals where these
GMA members are employed. The government shouldn't continue to pay these
doctors or put itself and Ghanaians at their mercy now that we know how the situation
has been politicized by self-seeking members of such an association or any
other.
What should the government do,
then? Privatize these hospitals and end direct management (in terms of funding
and supply of equipment). The so-called government hospitals or polyclinics
should be turned over to consortiums that can do a better job in managing those
institutions.
It means that the other analogous
issues such as professional training and recruitment of doctors and paramedical
staff will not be the government's headache.
It also means that whoever seeks
to become a doctor or whatever in the medical field should not depend anymore
on "free tuition" or any other support net that depends on the
Consolidated Fund. Elsewhere, financial aid is provided to the needy and they
are required to repay such "student loans". In that sense, the
government doesn't encumber itself with the financial needs of students hoping
to become doctors.
If the government doesn't support
those seeking to become lawyers, teachers, diplomats, etc. why should it do so
for doctors? It should be the individual's own affair. Then, upon graduation,
the individual must go through the rigours of job search before being
recruited. In our case when everything seems to be automatically programmed to
absorb those doctors, the situation isn't working well. Too much leeway has
been given to these doctors, which is why they are over-extending themselves by
laying down their tools at the least prompting.
In many countries that don't
behave the way we do in Ghana, the regimen regarding the medical sector is
rigid and strictly enforced. Why can't we do so in Ghana too?
I insist that the current strike
action by the GMA should open the government's eyes to begin taking drastic
measures to clean the stables so that the public hospitals, polyclinics, etc.
can be better managed and the Consolidated Fund rescued.
Those hospitals, polyclinics,
etc. should generate their own funds and pay staff thereby without recourse to
the Consolidated Fund. The medical field is guided by principles that go beyond
"incentives" and must be so appreciated. When self-acquisition and
self-interests undermine the Hippocratic Oath, chaos results. The government
has every opportunity to change the paradigm so those seeking conditions that
it cannot meet can find their way out to be on their own. The days of Father
Christmas are long gone!!
I shall return…
·
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