Wa, Sept. 30, GNA - The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) says it will reject new proposals contained in the health salary structure that would be implemented at the end of October.

The association said the Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (RTD), has drawn its attention to a recent statement to the effect that a new health salary structure would be implemented at the end of October and that the so-called impasse between doctors and the other health workers had been resolved.

The GMA viewed the new structure to be to the disadvantage of doctors as its formulation and implementation was designed without the inputs of the GMA.

It however said it had no objection to any category of health workers negotiating with their employers but insisted that it would reject any efforts to slash the salaries of doctors in an attempt to bridge the gap between them and other category of health workers. These were contained in a statement issued and signed by the GMA President, Dr Francis Adu-Ababio, and the General Secretary, Dr. Kwabena Opoku-Adisei, after the 5th National Executive Council Meeting of the GMA in Wa on Saturday.

The statement said the GMA would also fight against any attempt to alter the Health Sector Salary Structure if it is based on the agitation of some category of health workers rather than any due regard for the exhaustive job description and evaluation exercise undertaken in the health sector.

The GMA stated that there had not been any impasse existing between doctors and other health workers and urged the Sector Minister to tread with the greatest caution now and in the future on a rather sensitive matter that has the potential of disturbing the industrial harmony. The GMA said it has always been mindful of maintaining fairness and industrial harmony to the extent that the association has, since the sighting of the document, pursued purely legal and diplomatic options. "This culminated in our meeting last month with the National Labour Commission, the Council of State and His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Ghana", the GMA said.