Need for holistic compensation package for health personnel

The Head of Administration at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in the Western Region, Mr K.K. Boachie, has appealed to policy- makers to come out with a holistic compensation package for personnel of the Ghana Health Service (GHA) in order  to avoid intermittent strikes by health professionals.

He said policy makers ought to view the health service as a ‘‘System’’ which was a set of inter-related professionals and other allied workers performing activities together towards the attainment of a common goal or objective.

‘‘If they don’t view this and want to handle every single group separately, policy makers will always encounter the problem of institutional unrest.  Any attempt to come out with a compensation package should be in line with this set of inter-related workers,’’ Mr Boachie explained.

The Head of Administration of the hospital made the appeal in an interview with the Daily Graphic in the wake of the nationwide strike embarked upon by the Ghana Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA).

Mr Boachie noted that a nurse at the health facility was important in health care just as cleaners and mortuary men were in the day-to-day administration of the hospital, and so policy makers should compensate them proportionately otherwise the problem of industrial action would continue to confront the government.

Previous strikes

The hospital administrator recalled that medical laboratory technologists recently went on strike while in the past medical doctors had also embarked on a similar action, and it was now members of GHOSPA, a situation which did not augur well for the health sector.

He disclosed that after the long period of strike by members of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), a House Officer,  the lowest among the medical profession, was now enjoying GH¢468.30 as fuel allowance every month, GHC284.18 as housing allowance and GH¢206.82  as staff on call duty allowance.

Meanwhile, he said that even though they received those allowances which were incorporated in their respective pay vouchers, the hospital was made to provide ‘‘These category of doctors, who had just completed their training, with free housing and pay their monthly electricity bills.’’

However, Mr Boachie maintained that such facilities were not extended to their colleague health administrators, pharmacists and laboratory technologists who had also completed their training, saying,  ‘‘I am therefore not surprised that the various health professionals are embarking on strikes once these facilities are not extended to them.’’

Longer training period

Asked whether the length of training of the doctors was not taken into account, hence the enjoyment of those allowances, the head of administration answered in the negative.