I read on Ghanaweb recently that medical doctors in Ghana have embarked on a nation-wide strike over salary issues. From what I read, the complaint is that medical doctors who work in the government system have not been switched over to the single spine salary system. Not practicing medicine in Ghana, I don’t presume to know anything about the single spine salary system or its advantages or disadvantages. But my comment today is about doctors going on strike.
Before I state my comment, I want to give one disclaimer: I have not worked in Ghana for several years. Thus I am not up to date with current conditions of service for Ghanaian doctors, except through second-hand information. Nevertheless, being a Ghanaian and being a doctor, I believe I am qualified to give my opinion on a matter that seems to be rather perennial- doctors going on strike.
Doctors going on strike, in and of itself, is immoral. In the Hippocratic oath, which all doctors take, we swear to “never do harm” to anyone. Now I can hear some yelling out: “but we are providing emergency services!”. Indeed, but no one can argue the fact that when doctors go on strike people die as a result. Let me explain. First of all the definition of “emergency” is never absolute. Yes, if someone is bleeding from a wound or if a woman is in labor, the emergency is obvious. What about the 19 year old with mild abdominal pain which is rather vague; perhaps accompanied by a low grade fever. He doesn’t feel too bad and he even manages a smile. So the helpful triage nurse tells him the doctors are on strike and are seeing only emergencies. The young man agrees that he doesn’t really have an emergency. He agrees with the triage nurse that he probably has indigestion or mild gastritis. He is prescribed some Mylanta or Maalox and sent home. In the night, his fever spikes the abdominal pain intensifies and now it’s more in the right lower quadrant. He starts to vomit. His parents take him to the hospital. He is diagnosed with appendicitis, rushed to the operating room. Now he has generalized abdominal tenderness and it’s clear that the appendix has ruptured and he has generalized peritonitis. He survives the surgery- barely- but is now battling for his life. His father scrambles to buy the needed antibiotics the boy so desperately needs. The parents take turns in keeping wake by their son’s bedside throughout the night. The temperature does not resolve, the boy is hard to arouse and just before dawn, he dies.
I gave this scenario just to make the point that what may not seem like an emergency now, may turn into one after several hours when there’s no one to help. So what is my point? Am I saying that the doctors have no case and that they are just heartless for embarking on a strike? No! As a doctor who trained in Ghana and has worked in Ghana for several years I understand the frustration of Ghanaian doctors. Yes, I do. I have been in their shoes. I have walked in their moccasins. But my point still remains: it is fundamentally wrong for doctors (and nurses for that matter) to embark on a strike action. In other words, we should stay true to our oath and find other means to resolve issues like the one the doctors are dealing with right now.
What are some of the ways in which sticky issues such as salaries can be resolved when there is a stalemate? Binding Arbitration. This seems such a foreign concept in Ghana but it’s used a lot in developed countries to avoid strike actions that may be damaging to the populace at large. Binding arbitration is the process of having a neutral third party- usually a retired judge of high repute- listen to the case of both parties in a conflict and impose a solution he or she sees best. But before this is done, both parties agree in writing that they will accept whatever the decision of the arbitrator is.
It is time to end the suffering of our fellow citizens. It is time to end the deaths. It is time for us to be more compassionate and think more about our fellow human beings than our own comfort or economic well-being. It is time to be true to our oath and “do no harm” to anyone. Let’s get a respectable retired judge. Let us get respectable statesmen involved in binding arbitration to resolve the things that we can’t agree on so doctors can go back to work immediately. Most doctors and nurses are compassionate. It is time to display that compassion before the long-suffering Ghanaians lose all faith in, and respect for, the medical profession.

By:
Dr. Yaw Ababio Boateng
Arizona, USA
yawboat200@gmail.com
October 18, 2011