Ghana medical strike - Government to recruit Cuban doctors

Ghana medical strike: Government to recruit Cuban doctors
18 August 2015

Ghana is planning to recruit 177 doctors from Cuba to work at state-run
hospitals hit by a doctors' strike, Health Minister Alex Segbefia has said.
The government would also retain Cuban physicians currently in the
country whose contracts had expired, he added.
Negotiations between the government and doctors to end the three-week
strike have broken down.
A policy of no-work-no-pay would be applied on those who refused to
return to work by Thursday, the minister said.
BBC Africa Live: News updates
The minister did not say when the recruitment would start.
However, Mr Segbefia appealed to the doctors to reconsider their
position and return to work for negotiations to resume.
The government said it would only resume talks when the doctors returned
to work.
The striking doctors want free postgraduate medical education, better
retirement packages and increases in clothing, fuel and maintenance
allowances.
Other demands include a request for free overseas healthcare for
services not available in Ghana, and the right to import vehicles into
the country free of duty.
The BBC's Sammy Darko in the capital, Accra, says the strike has mainly
affected large teaching hospitals.
It has also put enormous pressure on military and police hospitals,
which are treating emergency cases, he adds.
All Ghanaians can have access to free state healthcare if they register
with the National Health Insurance Authority.
Government officials have advised people needing urgent medical
attention during the strike to go to private clinics and show their
health insurance cards.
It is not clear whether those who have done so have received free
medical care.

Source: Ghana medical strike: Government to recruit Cuban doctors - BBC
News - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33981803