GHANA ASSOCIATION OF BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENTISTS IN CASE OF REPLY THE NUMBER AND DATE OF THIS LETTER SHOULD BE QUOTED Our Ref : GABMLS/PRESS/08/15 Your Ref: ………………………….

NATIONAL SECRETARIAT P.O BOX KB 144 KORLE-BU, ACCRA Tel: (+233)050144300(0/1/2/3) Fax (+233)030 2680011 E-mail:[email protected] Website: www.gabmls.org

17TH AUGUST, 2015

PRESS STATEMENT ISSUED AT THE END OF THE THIRD (3RD) NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL (NEC) MEETING OF THE GHANA ASSOCIATION OF BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENTISTS (GABMLS) FOR THE YEAR 2015, HELD AT THE GABMLS SECRETARIAT IN ACCRA ON FRIDAY, 14TH AUGUST, 2015. The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Ghana Association of Biomedical Laboratory Scientists (GABMLS) having met on 14th August 2015 and deliberated extensively on recent developments in the Health sector and matters that are hampering the effective and efficient practice of Medical Laboratory Science in Ghana hereby state as follows: 1. The absence of policy guidelines for the growth and development of Medical laboratory Science in Ghana is to say the least detrimental to the delivery of quality health care in the country. It is on record that in 2010 the Ghana Health Service (GHS) with support from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Atlanta-USA formed the Laboratory Technical Committee (LTC) to develop National Health Laboratory Policy and National Health Laboratory Accreditation Policy with a five year Strategic Plan document for the implementation of these policies which were completed, finalized and endorsed by the then Hon. Minister for Health, Hon. Hanny-Sherry Ayittey, in 2013. The three policy documents were ready for launching only for members of the Laboratory Medicine Faculty of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS) to halt the launching and subsequent implementation thereof. We have made and continue to make frantic efforts at resolving issues with the Laboratory Medicine Faculty of the GCPS on the policies, and indeed GABMLS acknowledge and appreciate the recent efforts of the Ministry of Health, especially the Policy Planning Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) unit in ensuring that these policies do not remain on the shelves. It will be highly unacceptable and suicidal to allow the financial and technical investment made by CDC into developing the three documents, namely National Health Laboratory Policy, National Health Laboratory Accreditation Policy and the National Health Laboratory Strategic Plan to go waste. The GABMLS therefore calls on the Ministry of Health and its agencies to expedite action on these policies as further delay in the launching and implementation could have very damning consequences. MEMBER

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE(IFBLS) FEDERATION OF AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENTISTS(FAAMLS) CLINICAL AND LABORATORY STANDARDS INSTITUTE (CLSI)

2. GABMLS has noticed the deliberate attempts by some Medical Doctors of the Ghana Laboratory Medicine Faculty of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS) to infiltrate and capture the management of Medical Laboratories in Ghana. Currently, there are attempts at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to remove highly qualified Medical Laboratory Scientists as Laboratory Heads and to replace them with Medical doctors of the GCPS. The Association condemns this deliberate act of disrespect for Medical Laboratory Scientists in the strongest terms.

There are today in Ghana many Medical Laboratory Scientists who hold higher qualifications (MSc/Mphil and PhDs), including Managerial skills and training, who are capable of effectively and efficiently managing our Medical Laboratories far more than the Medical Doctors who call themselves Laboratory Physicians, whose duty is to interpret laboratory results to fellow clinicians on the wards, rather than idling in the laboratories as Heads. Indeed WHO standards and ISO 15189, to which Ghana has subscribed through the adoption of the SLMTA/SLIPTA programs require that the medical laboratories should be headed by qualified Medical Laboratory Scientists. It is therefore unacceptable for Medical Laboratory Scientists to be pushed aside in the management of Medical Laboratories in Ghana. The GABMLS declare that this act will never be accepted by the Profession and will resist any attempt by GCPS and management of the Teaching hospitals to implant Medical Doctors in our laboratories as Heads. We here again call on the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service, Teaching Hospitals Authorities and Human Resource Directorates to ensure that only Medical Laboratory Scientists with the requisite qualification and Managerial training are appointed to Head Medical Laboratories in the country. We wish to urge the Ghana Medical and Dental Council, Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS) to encourage such Medical Doctors to leave the management of Medical Laboratories to the practitioners of the profession of Medical Laboratory Science; and to trade the profession for which they have license to practice.

3. GABMLS is gravely concerned with the capitation and bundled tariff system by the National Health Insurance Authority for which Medical Laboratory services are bundled with consultation fees. This bundled tariff system is very inimical to the practice, growth and promotion of quality medical laboratory services in Ghana especially in the public sector district and sub-district hospitals.

MEMBER

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE(IFBLS) FEDERATION OF AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENTISTS(FAAMLS) CLINICAL AND LABORATORY STANDARDS INSTITUTE (CLSI)

The GABMLS has since 2012 called on the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), through communiqués after every Annual National Congress to de-bundle Medical Laboratory service tariffs yet the NHIA remains adamant. GABMLS therefore wish to call on the NHIA and the Government to ensure that the Medical Laboratory Service tariffs are de-bundled from consultation fees as a matter of urgency. This we believe will ensure adequate funding for laboratory reagents and consumables to provide uninterrupted quality laboratory diagnostic service that will enhance quality health care delivery in our hospitals. 4. In the recent recruitment of Health workers by the Ghana Health Service in the regions, some unqualified personnel have been recruited into Medical Laboratories of some district hospitals especially in the Upper East region and some Mission hospitals in the Northern region. Whilst condemning this act, the GABMLS calls on the Human Resource Directorate of the GHS, Upper East Regional Health Directorate and Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) Authorities to ensure that the appointments of all unqualified persons are revoked immediately. The GABMLS further urge the Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC) to as a matter of urgency investigate these reports, and to bring facilities that engage unqualified personnel in their laboratories to book to serve as a deterrent. 5. The Association is also concerned about the unfair placement of Chief Biomedical Scientists and the Technical Officers (holders of Diploma in Medical laboratory Technology) of our profession on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) compared to the analogous grade group by the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC). This salary discrepancy has taken the FWSC far too long a time to rectify and the excuses for not doing so are simply untenable. The GABMLS therefore calls on the GHS and FWSC to immediately ensure that these outstanding issues on the SSSS, including all arrears due them since the anomaly was detected, are rectified and paid up as soon as possible to avert an imminent upheaval from our membership that may further compound the industrial unrest in the health sector.

6.

The GABMLS is keenly following the ongoing negotiations for Conditions of Service (COS) for health sector workers in Ghana. GABMLS is also mindful of the ongoing negotiations for categories 2 and 3 allowances for public sector workers between Government and organized labour. GABMLS is urging the FWSC and MOH to ensure that all cadres of the Medical Laboratory Science are fairly treated and given acceptable conditions of service.

MEMBER

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE(IFBLS) FEDERATION OF AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENTISTS(FAAMLS) CLINICAL AND LABORATORY STANDARDS INSTITUTE (CLSI)

Meanwhile the leadership of the GABMLS is urging its members across the country to remain calm as we take steps to engage appropriate agencies to address the many challenges that confront our practice.

THOMAS KWABENA GYAMPOMAH (PRESIDENT) 0244618640/0501443002

MEMBER

MICHAEL AMO OMARI (GENERAL SECRETARY) 0501443001

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF BIOMEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENCE(IFBLS) FEDERATION OF AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL LABORATORY SCIENTISTS(FAAMLS) CLINICAL AND LABORATORY STANDARDS INSTITUTE (CLSI)