CAIRO: The Egyptian Medical Syndicate (EMS) expressed solidarity with striking doctors in Ghana, after Cairo announced it would send 30 doctors to Accra to treat patients, the EMS said in a Saturday statement.
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA,) however, announced Saturday it would suspend a three-week strike they called for while negotiations with the government continue, Reuters reported.
EMS condemned the “strike-breaking role” insinuated in a Thursday statement by the Foreign Ministry, calling on Egyptian doctors not to participate in breaking the strike in Ghana.
“With all due respect and love to the Ghanaian people, we emphasize that the solution to the doctors’ strike in Ghana should be rapid negotiations with the striking doctors, as per international conventions on workers’ strikes in vital sectors,” the statement read.
“Resolving the problems of a strike should not be based on replacing the strikers with strike-breakers from a foreign country,” the statement added.
Ghana had requested doctors from Egypt to rapidly treat patients, as Ghanaian doctors held a strike to press for improving their conditions, and Egypt’s Ministry of Health agreed to send 30 doctors from all specializations, according to the Foreign Ministry statement.
EMS supported on-and-off strikes in 2014 by Egyptian doctors calling for better working conditions despite the Ministry of Health’s criticism.