Invalids turned away from hospitals as doctors strike

New patients are being refused treatment at state hospitals across Ghana where a strike by doctors demanding back payment for overtime work went into a fifth day on Wednesday. At Ghana's main Korle Bu hospital in the capital Accra, beds lay empty as nurses explained they were under "strict instructions" to turn people needing medical help away. The nationwide strike, called by the Ghana Medical Association on Friday, has been observed at most state hospitals across the country where services for new patients have ground to a halt. Patients admitted to hospital beds prior to the strike have not been affected. The GMA called the strike after a 31 August deadline for the payment of Additional Duty Hours Allowances - or overtime - unpaid since May. They want the arrears to incorporate a 20.5 percent pay raise approved by the government for all civil servants in June. The government insists that the stoppage is illegal under a 1993 law banning health and essential services workers from taking strike action. Government spokesmen told IRIN a letter was issued to the GMA on Friday informing them of the illegality of the strike. Negotiations to end the stand-off were continuing on Wednesday. Ghana's National Labour Commission, which was set up by President John Kufuor in 2003 to improve worker-employer relations, has also denounced the strike. The Commission's deputy chairman, Danso Acheampong, threatened doctors with court proceedings if they do not "respect the law". The doctor's strike is the main subject of discussion on talk radio stations, which are hugely popular in Ghana. Most people understand that the doctors want their wage arrears paid, but are angry that the strike could endanger innocent lives. Local radio stations in the central town of Kumasi reported that one 84-year-old woman died after she was refused treatment at Komfo Anokye hospital. Doctors and health officials in Kumasi could not confirm the report. While all state run hospitals in the capital appear to be adhering the strike, doctors at the main military hospital who are not part of the GMA, have been swamped with new patients. The capital's sick and wounded have flocked to Number 37 military hospital, choking the out-patients waiting room. On Wednesday, the over-flow of patients stood clustered under trees or on the concrete paths of the hospital. "We have been here since 8 a.m. and have still not been attended to," said one distressed young man on Sunday night, accompanying his sick wife, suffering from increasingly severe stomach pains.