KATH Oncologists Call Off Strike After Meeting With Management
- Oncologists at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital have called off their strike over a faulty radiotherapy machine
- The medical doctors received assurances from the management of the hospital that efforts were being made to solve the problem
- The machine, a linear accelerator system, is used to diagnose and treat cancer in patients
Medical doctors at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital’s (KATH) Oncology Department have resumed work after going on a strike.
The strike declared on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, was to protest the months-long delay in fixing a linear accelerator system used for radiotherapy services.
Source: Getty Images
The machine, which is used to diagnose and treat cancer patients, broke down in October 2023, and despite doctors' attempts to get it fixed and operational, their efforts proved futile.
On Tuesday, the doctors abandoned their consulting rooms out of frustration, demanding that the machine be fixed immediately.
They argued that without the machines, they could not effectively deliver healthcare services to their patients.
Following the walkout, patients who had come for treatment were left stranded.
Management of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital stated that the machine had been fixed.
They, however, stated that the device was still non-operational due to the absence of a water phantom to help calibrate the machine.
The management described the strike action as unfair, particularly to patients who did not need to be diagnosed, and urged the doctors to return while management continued efforts to get the machine operational again.
Following a meeting with the hospital’s management, the doctors resumed work on Wednesday, June 26, 2024.
At the meeting, KATH’s management assured them the machine would be up and running as soon as possible.
It also shared with them the steps being taken to address the issue.
KATH doctors strike over accommodation
Earlier, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simone Osei-Mensah, had taken offence to threats from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital’s staff threatening to embark on a strike.
The health workers were embarking on the strike to protest their poor working conditions and acute accommodation challenges.
However, concerning their accommodation challenges, the minister said the only way for the health workers to get better ones is for them to vacate their current bungalows.
According to him, plans are underway to construct new blocks for the health workers to contain more of them than the existing ones.
He explained that currently, some single-unit bungalows stand on one-acre lands.
He said these could be improved to accommodate more than a single unit on the same plot of land.
CETAG’s indefinite strike cripples colleges of education nationwide
YEN.com.gh reported that the Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) indefinite strike has halted colleges of education.
Administrative and academic activities at all 46 colleges of education have been halted due to the strike.
Students have urged lecturers to return to class as the strike threatens to disrupt the academic calendar.
Proofread by Berlinda Entsie, journalist and copy editor at YEN.com.gh
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Source: YEN.com.gh
