The Health Services Workers’ Union of TUC (Ghana) has called on the government to quickly resolve the clash between the Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists (GAMLS) and the Ghana Medical Association (GMA).

A press statement by the union indicated that the effective operations of the health system at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital will be compromised should the conflict between the two groups remain unchecked.

"We therefore call on the government to immediately engage the management of KATH, the aggrieved members and the Union to resolve this issue as soon as possible because the laboratory Scientist has over 35,000 Health Services Workers, Union members behind them and failure to resolve this matter might lead to undesirable ramifications.

“We have always reminded the government that the fundamental driving force of the health system is teamwork and any altercation among the various professionals should be addressed with the needed urgency.

"The pending issue has lingered for several years and keeps resurfacing in different forms and different hospitals because the crux of the matter has not been addressed," it stated.

The concerns by TUC come after the local branch of GAMLS protested against a decision by the hospital’s Management to post two medical officers, Lesley Osei and Eunice Agyemang Ahmed, to the Laboratory Services Directorate, to fill vacancies there.

The two were appointed as Clinical Haematologists at the Laboratory Services Directorate.

The protestors argue that members of the Association who qualify for the vacant positions have been sidelined.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA)  have also indicated that the demand to have two of its members at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) removed from post is ill-informed and unacceptable.

The group in a press statement stated that the decision by the Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists (GAMBLs) to threaten KATH management of industrial strike if their demands are not met is disturbing.

The misunderstanding between the groups has left patients who require laboratory tests at KATH stranded.