A member of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr. Ezekiel Agyekum Obeng has kicked against the Association’s intention to join Organized Labour’s strike over galamsey concerns.

The long-standing GMA member in an interview with Pure FM’s Evans Osei-Bonsu, questioned the principle behind the Association’s stance to strike when they have sworn an oath to protect and preserve lives.

He expressed that GMA’s intention to abandon hospital facilities will contribute to more deaths of patients even before Galamsey does, defeating the very principle they seek to stand for.

“This decision is nothing short of plain callousness. Fighting Galamsey must be apolitical. We all should champion a path of dialogue rather than this chaotic style of approach. GMA has over the years advocated for policies through discourse. These policies have in the end served the nation positively, so what has changed?

“The Galamsey fight is a whole nation fight and it cannot be fought in a day or week. We need lasting solutions and these can be worked out nicely without grinding our health system to a halt," he said.

"Graciously, all the manifestos of the leading political parties have captured this problem and have proffered a way to solve it. Last week or so, the President set up a committee to also come up with a solution.

"As an Association, we should be thinking of quality inputs and practical solutions to support these agents to address the canker. That should be the way out rather than to strike.

"We have patients on dialysis, others needing surgical treatments and a whole lot. Are we saying, these people's lives do not matter? Why would we compound the issues by creating more health crisis," he added.

"We will kill more Ghanaians before Galamsey does if we pursue this path of strike. GMA and Organized Labor must rethink. There are more humane approaches the Association can adopt to add their voices to these concerns. We are respected groupings in the society, we should live up to the billing by upholding the ethics of the profession and commitment to protect and preserve lives. Strike action is certainly not the solution,” Dr. Ezekiel Agyekum Obeng further stated.

Background

Organised Labour is set to embark on a nationwide strike to back their demand for an outright ban on small-scale mining as a measure to halt the illegal mining menace in the country.

The industrial action takes effect from Thursday, October 10.

The decision was arrived at after a crunch meeting by the labour unions in Accra last Tuesday, following the expiration of the September 30 deadline given to the President to declare a state of emergency over galamsey.

A statement signed by the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Joshua Ansah, and the Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), Kenneth Koomson, called on all workers to stay at home beginning Thursday, October 10, 2024, until the government acceded to their demand.

The statement explained that the industrial action had become necessary because of the government’s failure to meet their demands on galamsey.