The Upper East Regional Chairman of the Ghana Physicians Assistants Association (GPAA), Raymond Adonganga, has disclosed that the services of members of the Association remain completely withdrawn in hospitals across the country as their strike actions continues.
He said the strike action is expected to continue until their concerns are fully addressed.
He revealed this when he was speaking on A1 radio’s Daybreak Upper East show.
It will be recalled that the Physician Assistants embarked on a strike on the 24th June 2023 over what they considered as a “demand of their freedom as Physician Assistants to work independently without being subjected to the control and direction of a Medical Doctor”
The Association said a proposed amendment of Act 857 under Section 43 of the Health Professional Bodies Act by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council (MDC) before Parliament would subject the profession of Physician Assistants to the direction and supervision of Medical Doctors.
This, they noted, was simply to overturn an established practice, take away their role of prescribing medicine or even practising dentistry, and work strictly under the supervision of a Medical Doctor whose absence would then make them worthless.
Mr Adonganga bemoaned that the Medical and Dental Council (MDC), as a regulatory body, has always treated the Association unfairly and has done so retrogressively and with suppression towards its members.
He noted that there were existing laid-down procedures that regulated the work of Physician assistants and the proposed amendment, which they believed had a hidden agenda, was only to belittle their work.
Meanwhile, patients, who are on the receiving end of this strike action, have started feeling the impact as most hospital outpatient department (OPD) services, which are managed by most Physician assistants, have been brought to a halt.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Gilbert Azeem Tiroog|Ghana
