PHARMACISTS TURN THE GUNS ON DOCTORS

By Ama Achiaa Amankwah

The industrial dispute involving workers in the health sector may not end sooner than expected as pharmacists wade into the fray, accusing doctors of greed and selfishness.

Representatives of the Hospital Pharmacists Association (HOSSPA), a union of pharmacists working in both government and private hospitals told Public Agenda that both senior and junior doctors are behaving as if they are the only health care providers who are indispensable to the economy.

The HOSSPA representatives accuse the doctors of always exploiting their administrative positions to negotiate better conditions for only their members, while turning a blind eye on the equally poor working conditions facing other health workers.
“They have succeeded in using the ‘back door’ to renegotiate a new salary structure that puts them far above everyone else”, the pharmacists pointed out, and expressed disgust at the disparities in the new salary structure, which is skewed in favour of doctors.

In their view, the recommendations of Cedar Care Trust International, the external consultants contracted by the government to work out a new salary structure for health workers has been side-stepped by the doctors.

“Relativity in the current pay structure is appalling. Even though we believe doctors should be given what they deserve, the gap should not be too big,” says GHOSPA.

GHOSPA argues that its members were better off under the Ghana Universal Salary Structure, (GUSS) which was replaced by the Additional Duty Hour Allowance, (ADHA) which consolidated salary structures based on job evaluation.

“The cynical use of 152 hours has made pharmacists worse off. The authorized number of hours for pharmacists, which is being used in tertiary institutions is 192 hours.

Information made available to Public Agenda shows that the implementation of the new salary scales for the public health sector which places pharmacists under category eight (scale 2) allots ¢16,287,191 million a month to pharmacists, compared to ¢39,219,725 million for doctors. The entry point for medical officers ( staff who have been at post for less than one year) is ¢9,607,290 million, while that of pharmacists who have been working much longer is at ¢4,646, 463 million.

The pharmacists argue that the job evaluation scheme has rather caused distortions in the salary structure, which have the potential of destroying the emerging team spirit in the health sector.

GHOSPA is therefore threatening to use any means, including strikes to get what its members deserve. “Negotiations in good faith have not been adhered to. When the independent body came in we thought there was a road map, but what we see now are arbitrary figures. Government has been very ungrateful to us for showing maturity.”

The pharmacists say if government wants them to work, it must address their grievances since the National Health Insurance Scheme will increase their workload.

Besides, pharmacists are being drawn into an evolving role in the heath care delivery process, which includes human resource management, management of a revolving fund, medicines management and drug information services among others.


GHOSPA regrets that other health professionals are never involved in the process of determining the salaries and conditions of service of their colleagues. “Therefore we reject entirely the scoring, placements and progression for pharmacists.”

The past two weeks have witnessed ugly noises from the senior and junior doctors, calling for better salaries. In response, government agreed new salaries with the help of a consultant and assured the health workers that they would have an annual salary budget of ¢2.4 trillion to reorganize the pay structure of all health professionals.

But in a sudden turn of events the doctors demanded that they be paid the over six months ADHA arrears due them this month. They are reported to have agreed at a meeting with President John Agyekum Kufuor that one third of arrears, (¢400 billion) be added to the June payroll.

The doctors are now requesting that all their arrears be paid this month despite the plea by the president that it would cause cash-flow problems for the exchequer. Pharmacists are now also demanding their pound of flesh. When all this agitation for salaries will come to an end is anyone’s guess.