TTH: Yaa Naa appeals to striking doctors to resume emergency care
The Overlord of Dagbon, Yaa Naa Abukari II, has waded into the ongoing strike by doctors at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) by dispatching a high-powered delegation to mediate and urge a return to work.
The delegation, led by Zangbalun Naa Dr. Yakubu II, Chief of the Zangbalun Traditional Area, met separately with management of the hospital and leaders of the Doctors Association of Tamale Teaching Hospital (DATTH) on Friday.
Delivering a message from the Yaa Naa, Zangbalun Naa appealed to the striking doctors to consider resuming critical services while efforts are made to resolve their concerns.
“As a neutral facilitator, will convey your concerns to the minister and engage him to take the necessary steps to address your grievances. We implore you to consider the lives and hang in the balance,” the message stated.
“We urge you in the interim to find a way to ensure the continuity of emergency service. We’re willing to facilitate a meeting with your representatives and the minister to discuss the way forward.”
The Yaa Naa also expressed his readiness to serve as a conduit between the doctors and the Ministry of Health to help bring an end to the standoff.
Speaking on behalf of the hospital’s acting CEO, Dr. Salifu Alhassan Tiah, Director of Pharmacy at TTH, expressed hope in the Dagbon King’s intervention.
“I want to appeal to colleagues that, as we are here, if there is any difficulty with our subsistence here, the ultimate place we will go to is his royal Highness, and if he is here, we have nothing to do than to accord this delegation the highest of respect, so we plead that we should all do well to take to heart the word they have for us,” he said.
The doctors’ strike, now in its second day, has significantly disrupted health services at TTH, leaving many patients stranded.
Doctors at the hospital on April 24 suspended emergency and outpatient services indefinitely, citing what they described as “unwarranted attacks” from Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh and Tamale North MP Alhassan Suhuyini.
The decision followed an emergency general meeting of the association on Wednesday, April 23, a day after the Minister’s visit to the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit, which the doctors say led to tensions and interference in their work.
Source: channel1news