It lamented that after seven years of being migrated onto the single spine, they are yet to receive what is due them.

[contextly_sidebar id=”j8cM6Mf6oD97USHHtm96vdBA5pqVoJ8a”]The General Secretary of GHOSPA, Agyeman Badu, made the call when some executives of the Association visited Nana Akufo-Addo at the Flagstaff House.

“This has been the cause of many unrests from the pharmacy front.”

They said they are unfairly being given market premiums far lower than that of their colleagues in public universities, who are on the same level with them on the salary structure.

“We believe that finality to this issue could be found by your Presidency. We remain the only professional group within the health sector without codified conditions of service. We pray that Mr. President, you do something about this for us, so that what is happening currently that members have low morale is changed,” he said.

Members of the Government and Hospitals Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA), have in recent years embarked on series of industrial actions including an indefinite strike to press home their demands for a fair consideration on the single spine salary structure.

Several negotiations it held in the past under the erstwhile John Mahama government broke down and yielded no positive result.

The Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana has expressed concern that the consistent agitation by GHOSPA over their market premium may affect the critical services the pharmacists provide.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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A statement from the Ministry of Health said “the Ministry of Health wishes to commend Members of the Government Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA) for accepting to call off their strike to enable stakeholders involved to resolve their issues.”

GHOSPA in September embarked on a strike over issues relating to the payment of their market premiums among others.

The Association indicated that the course of action had been necessitated by the continuous breakdown of negotiations with government over its grade structure and placement in public health facilities.

The Ministry in a statement however expressed hope that “GHOSPA will cooperate with the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Ministry of Health, the National Labour Commission and other stakeholders to resolve all issues relating to their remuneration and conditions of Service.”

“The Ministry is aware of that the FWSC has held various negation meetings with GHOSPA. The negotiation has not concluded. Our understanding is that FWSC is still committed to continuing the negations. It is therefore the view of the Ministry that the people of Ghana, the poor and vulnerable as well as distressed patients would be served if GHOSPA continued with to negotiate with a view to reaching agreement with the FWSC.

GHOSPA’s strike in August

Apart from the strike GHOSPA embarked on in August, it also embarked on a similar one in August 2015, over the same unresolved market premium issue with the FWSC concerning conversion differences after migration onto the Single Spine Salary Structure.

GHOSPA’s General Secretary, Emmanuel Owusu Owiafe, earlier lamented to Citi News that his association has been negotiations with government for six years but to no avail.

He also noted that other pharmacists working for government, but outside the Health Service, are receiving better market premiums.

“Within the health service, we are having discrepancies in our interim market payment even comparable to our colleague pharmacists in some public sector institutions. Pharmacists working in university hospitals are on a premium of 1.14 meanwhile the Fair Wages and salaries Commissions are putting pharmacists working in the Ghana health services at 0.58 and that is a huge discrepancy,” he said.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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A number of labour unions including the Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA), Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG), and recently staff of the Electoral Commission, have intensified demands for increased salaries and some allowances owed them; but the Head of Public Affairs for the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC), Earl Ankrah, in an interview on Citi FM said the commission will not give in to demands from labour unions ahead of the December elections.

However, in a separate interview with the General Secretary of GHOSPA, Emmanuel Owiafe, the FWSC will only leave dire consequences at the various hospitals.

“You cannot owe us for a period of almost six years and you just come out to say that you will not pay because you have not budgeted for it. We will explicitly say that it is show of very bad practice,” Emmanuel Owiafe said.

“If government blatantly says that this year’s and nothing at all, it is highly unacceptable, and we are not backing down on our stance. We are still on strike and we are very resolute with our demands. We are not backing off until we have a strong commitment from government, he added.

GHOSPA enters into the third week of its strike to demand their changes to their market premiums; as a result of conversion differences after their migration onto the Single Spine Salary Structure.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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In a statement signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Anthony K Ameka, the Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana, said that the breakdown in negotiations comes at a point when the services of pharmacists are needed critically.

“The Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana sees the breakdown in  negotiations between the parties as most unfortunate, especially at the time when the services of one of the most critical essential service provider (The Pharmacists) are needed to advance our national health goals.”

The chamber has therefore asked government and all stakeholders involved to address the concerns of GHOSPA in order to save lives.

“The Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana is, therefore, appealing to the Government and its negotiation team, the national leadership of GHOSPA and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) to address these issues urgently and immediately. This is critical to save the lives of Ghanaians.”

“We are all appealing to members of the Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA) to consider their patients and cooperate for a swift resolution. To save lives and prevent the obvious unintended consequences of the strike action, we urge the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, The Ministry for Employment and Labour Relations and the Government and Hospital Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA to come together with a concrete deal to halt the strike action.”

The chamber also called on the Ministry of Health “to come up with strategies to refocus its policies and actions to forestall future strike actions within the sector to ensure continuous provision of quality, accessible, affordable and equitable health services for all Ghanaians, to better respond to emerging new diseases both nationally and internationally.”

The Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana, inaugurated in 2013, is a platform that seeks to promote, protect, pursue and advocate the collective interests of patients, its members, the pharmaceutical industry and the state.

GHOSPA members on strike

Members of the Government and Hospitals Pharmacists Association (GHOSPA) declared on Monday, September 5, that they were commencing an indefinite strike to press home demands for changes to their market premiums.

According to the association, the decision to go on strike was due to the continuous breakdown of negotiations with the government over its grade structure and placement in public health facilities.

Two days into the strike, the National Labour Commission filed  a suit at the Labour Division of the High Court, seeking to compel striking pharmacists to call off their strike.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has ordered heads of pharmacy units in public health institutions to remain at post to ensure that the pharmacies are in operation.

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By: Jeffrey Owuraku Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Address GHOSPA’s concerns now – Chamber of Pharmacy Ghana appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

GHOSPA declared an indefinite strike last week accusing the National Labour Commission (NLC) and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) of failing to address discrepancies in their market premium payment.

The NLC before the strike, sued GHOSPA describing the action as illegal.

[contextly_sidebar id=”xruL2wFRQ9lt0YNJAGkUIW4Op1WOjytL”]However at a press conference in Accra today [Tuesday], the National President of the Association, Agyemang Badu said his members will not to give up on their demands.

“Some of our members are still offering some form of services, that is critical emergency services and when we hit the ten days from today; and we don’t hear anything from government, we will deploy other measures to bring our plight to the attention of the President, the government and the good people of Ghana.”

Mr. Agyemang Badu further added that, GHOSPA was surprised at the actions of the NLC in rushing to court to sue them.  He was however quick to add that, though they had not received an official writ summoning them,they are ready to meet the NLC tomorrow.

“We want to assure the NLC that GHOSPA is very ready and determined to march them in any court. We will appear to the extent that the issues are on the stalled conditions of service negotiations. Let us add that the duration of cases before the NLC is a big threat to industrial harmony in Ghana.”

The Association is also worried about the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu’s claim that their interim market premium was not captured in this year’s budget.

According to them, the issue has been put before the Ministry for over three years and wondered why it was not captured.

GHOSPA has maintained its stance that after nearly six years of trying to get their concerns resolved but to no avail, they are determined to see to the end of the matter.

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By: Zoe Abu-Baidoo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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