Members of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) have given the government a one-week ultimatum to address their concerns regarding their conditions of service or they withdraw their services from Monday, 18 November 2019.

The GMA, in a statement at the end of its 61 annual conference in Tamale, said a one-week window is hereby offered the government (MoH), adding that if by 1800 hours GMT on 17 November 2019, the Conditions of Service Document for Medical Doctors/Dentists working with the Ministry of Health and its agencies has not been signed off for implementation effective 1 January 2020, the following shall kick start:

1. Effective Monday, 18 November 2019, all Medical Doctors and Dentists working in the public sector shall withdraw Out-Patient Department (OPD) services. This will continue till Sunday, 1 December 2019.

2. From Monday, 2 December 2019 to Sunday, 8 December 2019, emergency services shall be withdrawn.

3. From Monday, 9 December 2019, all services shall be totally withdrawn.

The statement said the government has refused to honour its pledge as agreed on a document signed in September 2015 even though the implementation date of the document was supposed to have started from 1 January 2016 through to 31 December 2018, that was not done.

The GMA said they have tried to engage the government with the view to renewing the said document but to no avail.