Striking biomedical lab scientists head to court tomorrow

The Ghana Association of Biomedical Laboratory Scientists (GABMLS) will on Tuesday head to the High Court to respond to a suit against it by the National Labour Commission (NLC).

The GABMLS laid down their tools last week Monday to press home their demands for the launch of the National Health Laboratory Policy (NHLP) by the Ministry of Health (MoH).

According to them, the NHLP will among other things help improve the quality of health care by laboratory technicians as well as build the right infrastructure for the provision of their services.

But the NLC, which had earlier described the strike by the biomedical laboratory scientists as illegal, last week Tuesday filed a suit at the Labour Division of the High Court, praying the court to compel the scientists to go back to work.

Responding to the suit, the President of the association, Mr Ignatius Abowini Nchor Awinibiino said it is not in the power of the NLC to determine whether or not the strike is illegal.

“Labour commission has said that our strike is illegal [but] the labour commission cannot enforce it. It’s the court that will enforce it,” he said.

He said at the court, they would state their concerns and “whatever the court decides, we will meet with our lawyers and take the next step.”