The Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anesthetists has declared a strike that would go on on January 1, 2022.
“The leadership of the Ghana Association of Certified Registered Anaesthetists wish to bring to the attention of your honorable office and other stakeholders that its members cannot continue to provide anesthesia services effective 1st January 2022,” the Association said in a letter addressed to the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu.
The association said that the strike is being held as a result of the Ministry of Health’s inability to address its concerns over altering members’ titles from ‘Certified Registered Anesthetists’ to ‘physician assistants.’
It said the Ministry of Health’s decision “implies that CRAs shall not be illegible to practice anesthesia by law and are not prepared to renew their license with the MDC as congress resolved in the 3rd Annual General Congress and Scientific Session held in Kumasi on 1st – 4th December.”
According to the Association, the Medical and Dental Council has also refused to renew the certifications of its members, preventing them from lawfully practicing.
“The CRAs loved to serve their cherished clients, and the good people of Ghana as law-abiding citizens, but the circumstance we find ourselves in will render the CRA ineligible to practice. The unfortunate development which shall have grave repercussions on our health delivery system should be blamed on the Ministry of Health and the MDC.”
Anesthetists are advanced practice nurses who administer anesthesia for surgical surgeries or other medical treatments.
To guarantee the safe administration of anesthesia, they collaborate with surgeons, anesthesiologists, dentists, podiatrists, and other experts.
Anesthesia is the administration of medication to allow medical procedures to be done without pain, and in some cases, without the patient being aware during the procedure.
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SOURCE: CITINEWS
