Accra (Greater Accra) 13 April '99

Dr Henry Hooldbrook Smith, Chief Executive of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, on Monday attributed the delay in the payment of extra duty allowance to junior doctors to delays in the preparation of their duty roaster. Speaking to the GNA in an interview in Accra, he said the minister of health, Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor, during one of their meetings pointed out that payment of extra duty allowance is not across board and therefore called for a duty roaster. "The preparation of the duty roaster will determine who is performing the extra hours duty." Dr Holdbrook-Smith said the payment of the money through the banks, as the doctors are demanding, would be difficult, "because administration-wise, payment at the facility level helps us know who is to be paid". He explained that paying through the banks would engender confusion since "a doctor may be on leave but will collect the money, for which he has not worked." Dr Holdbrook-Smith said plans are underway to prevent junior doctors of the hospital from going on strike. The hospital management is planning to look for funds for the doctors, while they wait for their monies. "This is to keep the hospital running." The Greater Accra group of junior doctors on Monday threatened to lay down their tools again by Thursday, April 15th, if their March additional duty allowance is not paid. They demanded that their April and May allowances at the facility level be paid on or before April 30th and May 31st respectively to keep them at work. The junior doctors have also asked for their monies for June and for subsequent months to be paid through their banks and not at the facility level.