Nurses and physician assistants at the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital in the Central Region have decided to stay away from work with immediate effect.
In what they describe as “removal” from “danger”, the workers say their mental and physical health is at risk due to the “illegal, oppressive, traumatic, degrading, abusive, embarrassing and general egocentric behaviour of the Hospital Director, Dr Eugene Dordoye”.
In a letter to the Chief Executive Officer of the Mental Health Authority (MHA), the workers said their action is not a strike action.
“We are taking this action under Section 119 of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) and accordingly, we are ready to return to work as soon as he is removed from the hospital,” the letter stated.
Nurses at the hospital in October, 2017 demanded the dismissal of the Medical Director.
After their demands were not heeded to, they embarked on a sit-down strike the following month.
READ: Nurses at Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital on sit-down strike
But arbitration resulted in an unqualified apology from Dr Dordoye.
The staff, however, rejected the apology.
“For the avoidance of doubt also, we are not asking or insisting that he should be dismissed or that his appointment be terminated.
“What we are asking for is that he should be removed from the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital and be given the requisite training on people management and effective leadership (as has been suggested by the Fact Finding Committee) before coming back to run the hospital; in order to save us from physical, emotional and mental torture he has been subjecting us to; as well as to give us a fresh atmosphere to enable us heal our emotional and psychological wounds, as same is being hindered by his continuous presence.”
Source: 3news.com|Ghana