GMA threatens strike if government doesn’t ban public gatherings

The General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has threatened to embark on a strike should government fail to impose restrictions on social gatherings as the surge in active Covid-19 cases persist.

Dr Justice Yankson in an interview on Accra-based Citi FM on Saturday stressed that already health facilities are “on their knees”.

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He, therefore reiterated calls for rigorous measures need to be implemented in order to curb the spike of the disease.

The issue is very simple, and we can only advice, and we can only advocate. The worst-case scenario is that we put our tools down but that might not be the solution for this pandemic because we don’t control the public purse, we don’t control the executive power. So we keep advising government.

The medical practitioner further explained that; “Mind you, there are first-line government advisors, and we do our best to interact with them collectively as a group, but the ultimate sanctioning of a particular activity has to come from the president.”

So inasmuch as that we’ve made the case, the best we can do is to continue to advocate that these social gatherings are banned and if the powers do not really act in that direction, the worst case is that we will also put down our tools because we are also tired,” he was categorical.

Already, the Association has issued a statement calling on government to place a ban on church services, funerals and other social gatherings.

GMA insisted that with the current trend where an average of 600 persons tested positive for the virus a day, a review of the imposition of restriction is inevitable.

The non-adherence to the Covid-19 preventive measures has the potential to further escalate the spread of the disease hence, government should impose stricter measures in the fight against the pandemic.

Meanwhile, according to the latest update by the Ghana Health Service the country has 3,940 active cases with 390 deaths and 59,553 people have recovered out of 63,883 cases recorded so far.

Source: MyJoyOnline.com