{"id":15413,"date":"2026-02-04T17:24:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/?p=15413"},"modified":"2026-02-04T17:24:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:24:04","slug":"korle-bu-lab-staff-begin-strike-with-opd-services-halted-total-shutdown-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/?p=15413","title":{"rendered":"Korle Bu Lab staff begin strike with OPD services halted, total shutdown next week"},"content":{"rendered":"

A critical crisis is unfolding at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as Medical Laboratory Professional Workers have begun a phased industrial action, with a complete shutdown of all services scheduled for next week.<\/p>\n

The Korle Bu chapter of the Medical Laboratory Professional Workers\u2019 Union (MELPWU) officially commenced a “sit-down strike” across all hospital laboratories on Wednesday, February 4, 2026.<\/p>\n

This initial phase, which will last until Sunday, February 8, has drastically reduced services, expected to affect thousands of outpatients.<\/p>\n

According to the strike notice signed by Chapter Chairman John Kofi Nakoja, the union has directed its members to refuse all outpatient department (OPD) cases during this period.<\/p>\n

Only a skeleton staff has been nominated to handle emergency cases for existing in-patients.<\/p>\n

The union has also warned that samples requiring follow-up beyond February 8 will not be accepted, signaling a wind-down of operations.<\/p>\n

Critical services at the hospital’s Blood Bank and the Laboratory at the Cardiothoracic Centre are currently running normally but only for clients under intensive care.<\/p>\n

The situation is set to escalate severely starting Monday, February 9, 2026. In this second phase, the union has announced a total withdrawal of all medical laboratory services across the entire Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.<\/p>\n

This blanket strike will include the previously exempted Blood Bank and Cardiothoracic Centre laboratories, effectively halting a core diagnostic function of the hospital.<\/p>\n

The notice also warns of a “possible escalation of the strike by the national union.”<\/p>\n

The industrial action follows a statutory notice of intended action served on the Minister of Health, the Hospital Management, and the National Labour Commission on January 27, 2026.<\/p>\n

While the specific grievances prompting the strike were not detailed in the public notice, such actions typically stem from unresolved disputes over conditions of service, allowances, or working conditions.<\/p>\n

The strike threatens to bring non-emergency hospital operations to a standstill and will severely impact the diagnosis and monitoring of patients, leading to delayed treatments and postponed surgeries.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A critical crisis is unfolding at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as Medical Laboratory Professional Workers have begun a phased industrial action, with a complete shutdown of all services scheduled for next week. The Korle Bu chapter of the Medical Laboratory Professional Workers\u2019 Union (MELPWU) officially commenced a “sit-down strike” across all hospital laboratories on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123457,"featured_media":15415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4181,41,13],"tags":[2622,4861],"class_list":["post-15413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employment","category-general-news","category-health","tag-korle-bu-teaching-hospital","tag-medical-laboratory-professional-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/123457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15413"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15417,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15413\/revisions\/15417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}