As Laboratory Technicians strike, more facilities shut down

Laboratory facilities at various government hospitals continue to turn clients away as the Medical Laboratory Professional Workers Union’s (MELPWU) nationwide strike enters day four. 

The Union began a nationwide strike on June 17, demanding better and improved conditions of service, saying negotiations delayed since 2022.

Thursday, June 20, when the Ghana News Agency visited the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), it found that the Blood Bank, the Central laboratory and other laboratory services within the Hospital were all closed to the public.

Mr John Kofi Nakoja, a Medical Laboratory Scientist and Chapter Chairman for MELPWU, KBTH, said though the Blood Bank, was an important laboratory facility, which served people within and outside, they kept turning clients away due to the industrial action. 

He said: “At the Blood Bank, we do laboratory services, screening and processing, so without that, no doctor can issue or transfuse blood, which has not been processed so, if you risk and get blood from anywhere, the likelihood that the blood has not been screened is very high. People are also not able to donate since there is no professional to do screening.”

“Our issue is simple. You cannot have an employer who has engaged you without a condition of service. As laboratory professionals, we do not have conditions of service, other professions have it and what we are bargaining for is that of 2022,” he added.

He said members did not have any idea of their benefits or “what transpires should they go on pension and when they fall sick in the line of duty”, stressing “we need a document detailing what we stand to gain as employees of an institution”. 

The KBTH facility has about 10 laboratories. The Blood Bank serves the whole of the southern regions – Accra, Volta and Oti. It also serves the maternity block. They have all been shut down.

The Korle-bu Chapter Chairperson apologised to Ghanaians for the inconvenience caused, saying  

“We did not intend to cause this so, we served notice to the government on June 4, which was not taken into consideration and they failed to acknowledge that the strike will have dire consequences.”

Source: GNA

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