Dagbon Overlord moves to mediate TTH Doctors’ strike

The Overlord of Dagbon, Yaa Naa Abukari II, has stepped in to mediate the ongoing industrial action by doctors at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), dispatching a high-level delegation to meet with hospital management and the Doctors Association of Tamale Teaching Hospital (DATTH).

The delegation, led by Zangbalun Naa Dr. Yakubu II, Chief of Zangbalun Traditional Area, engaged both parties in a bid to de-escalate tensions and seek a path toward resuming critical health services.

In a message delivered on his behalf, Yaa Naa acknowledged the doctors’ dedication but appealed for a return to duty to help save lives.

“As a neutral facilitator, [I] will convey your concerns to the minister and engage him to take the necessary steps to address your grievances. We implore you to consider the lives that hang in the balance.”

“We urge you in the interim to find a way to ensure the continuity of emergency service. We’re willing to facilitate a meeting with your representatives and the minister to discuss the way forward.”

Dr. Salifu Alhassan Tiah, Director of Pharmacy, speaking on behalf of the Acting CEO of TTH, welcomed the intervention and called for cooperation.

“I want to appeal to colleagues that, as we are here, if there is any difficulty with our subsistence here, the ultimate place we will go to is His Royal Highness. And if he is here, we have nothing to do than to accord this delegation the highest of respect, so we plead that we should all do well to take to heart the word they have for us.”

The doctors’ strike, now in its second day, has crippled operations at TTH, leaving patients and their relatives in distress.

Emergency and outpatient services were suspended indefinitely on April 24, following what DATTH described as unwarranted attacks from Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh and Tamale North MP Alhassan Suhuyini during a visit to the hospital on April 22.

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