Skip to main content

Life of a Ghanaian doctor- is the strike fair?



The nation is shaken anytime doctors threaten strike or actually embark on it. they get to meet the president or his vice or top government officials which others workers don't ever get. I have covered stories about the doctors strike and well.. i have lost count. All I know is when doctors bark, it is the loudest. period! With the persistent strike by doctors, there’s a growing public perception doctors are uncompassionate and selfish; I tell the story of the Ghanaian doctor...who is he or she? the average middle class ghanaian or a well to do to do arrogant saviour?

The medical profession is associated with respect and sophistication and doctors in particular are revered by the public for the God-like job of healing the sick. But in the wake of persistent strikes they are becoming popular for the wrong reasons. Many Ghanaians harbour the perception that doctors are selfish and insensitive.

I met a doctor at Korle-Bu who dressed me up as a doctor too to spend a day with him and experience his life as a doctor in GH. Listen to my interview with the anonymous doctor (on facebook or twitter)and tell me if their strike is justified or not.
Dr Anonymous speaks...
"I feel very bad whenever I hear people say that doctors are not compassionate and callous.  It is very painful [to hear people talk like this], because doctors ‘work their backs off’ just to take care of their patients. There are very wrong’ perceptions that strikes by doctors are all about pay increase. Sometimes, they strike over unresolved issues related to their salaries which have lingered for long. It was therefore not true that doctors lay down their tools just to make more money. Even when we go on strike, we do not totally shut down our services and measures are put in place to care for patients.  Deaths that occur during periods when doctors are on strike cannot be blamed on the strike. If somebody is going to die, he will die. We are not gods, we are human beings, we just have a little bit extra knowledge. The manner in which Ghanaians criticize and sometimes malign doctors makes us feel unappreciated. Sometimes you just get frustrated with the system and you think it’s easier and better if you get out...” 
xoxo


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FRANCISCA KAKRA FORSON: MY JOURNEY FROM INTERN TO NEWS EDITOR #KAYKASA ...

Post a Comment
Read more

THE POLITICS OF AFRICAN HAIR: Why is African Hair Unpopular?

I finally shared the full story behind my hair on my Tv show Inside Pages on Metro Tv. Today I’m going to give MY TAKE on the Achimota school-Rastafarianism-dreadlocks saga and it will be about MY HAIR EXPERIENCE- as you know and can see I have kept my hair in its natural state for years and there’s a story behind it. First, I’ll talk about My Big Chop and then 2 major experiences after the chop. • The big chop In my second year at the University of Ghana, in 2008 I made a practical decision. I stopped applying perming cream to my hair to straighten and remove the texture. I did this to allow for new growth in anticipation of a big chop. This was contradictory to the wild joy I embraced soon after completing SSS, now SHS. Perming my hair was the long-awaited moment of freedom from the many years of compulsory cutting of hair per the rules of mainstream education. But few years down the line, it was no longer freedom and joy because of the cuts and burns from the perming cream. My hair ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Let’s gives our children the right start! Let’s Be Fair Ghana!

Elizabeth lifts her hand swiftly as soon as her teacher asks for a volunteer to read out a passage to the class. Her teacher calls on her and she marches boldly to the board, reads loudly and clearly and is rewarded with a round of applause. I was proud of her. I got to meet Elizabeth when I had the opportunity to visit Sandema in the Upper East Region during a field visit with UNICEF. Elizabeth is a primary 3 pupils of Alama Basic School. Elizabeth and her classmates impressed me. It was very evident that they understood the passage and each of them took turns going to the board. This scene alone made it all worth it. It may be hard to believe, but 7 children in primary 3 out of every 10 in Ghana are unable to read and write even though they should be able to. This begs the question, are we being fair to our children? If this number of children at that age cannot read or write how do we prepare them to learn others skills?    continued to wat...
Post a Comment
Read more