A group of 15 Egyptian doctors arrived in Accra for a month-long stay to fill shortages in Ghanian hospitals, according to a Monday statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
The doctors, from different specializations, were received by Egyptian Ambassador to Ghana Mohamed Haidar and Ghanaian Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah. The group is the first wave of Egyptian doctors to be dispatched to Ghana.
The physicians will be distributed to different cities to treat patients and train young Ghanaian doctors, the statement quoted Agyemang-Mensah as saying.
Ghanaian doctors suspended a three-week strike Aug. 22 while negotiations with the government continue to reach an agreement to improve their working conditions.
The Egyptian Medical Syndicate (EMS) condemned the announcement of Egypt’s health and foreign ministries to send the doctors to Ghana due to the doctors’ strike there, expressing solidarity with their colleagues.
“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,” an Aug. 22 statement by EMS 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.
EMS has supported on-and-off strikes in 2014 by Egyptian doctors calling for better working conditions despite the Ministry of Health’s criticism.
