Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in the world, is in the throes of a debilatating strike action by health workers that has led to a number of deaths in hospitals across the country.
The strike has been going on for over a week and today (Friday March 26th), the country’s president, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma announced that any worker that fails to report for work next Monday ( March 29th) will face instant dismissal. He has also called on retired doctors, nurses and other health workers to report for work. Army and police personnel have also been deployed at major hospitals to maintain law and order.
The workers have already refused a 100 percent pay increase offered by the president himself last Thursday at a meeting that ended in a stalemate. Doctors in Sierra Leone are paid less than 200 dollars a month while nurses get below 100 dollars. Government ministers do not receive fantastic salaries either. A minister in the past SLPP government resigned in anger a couple of years ago saying he did not see how he and his family could live on the equivalent of 500 dollars a month. Because of global recession and local corruption, life has been getting more and more difficult for the average Sierra Leonean. A bag of rice(the staple food) now costs about 130,000 leones (about 35 dollars) and a one-bedroom modern apartment in Freetown the capital now costs about 50 dollars a month.
Many of the country’s locally trained doctors, engineers, lawyers and other professionals leave the country after graduation. Nigeria and Cuba have been sending doctors to Sierra Leone for many years now to alleviate the situation. Low salaries are also partly responsible for the massive corruption in the country. The government’s revenue has been eroded over the years by people inventing ways to evade taxation with the connivance of public officials struggling to make ends meet.
Sierra Leone is very rich in gold, diamonds, rutile, iron ore and many other minerals. Oil has also been discovered recently. But the government does not seem to derive much revenue from its natural resources, again due to corruption by public officials. A new minig policy to correct this anomaly is being implemented. Reformation of the fishing industry, another huge potential revenue earner is also in progress.
President Koroma says the workers are demanding approximately 130 billion leones which is five times the current health sector wage bill; however, the government and donors can only come up with 50 billion leones, which, according to the president, constitutes a doubling of salaries across the board for technical workers over and above the announed 20 percent wage increase already implemented for all public servants. The strike involves technical workers, doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and pharmacists.
President Koroma recently announced a free medical care program for mothers and children whose implementation will coincide with the country’s independence celebrations on April 27th but the health workers say such a program would have to go hand in hand with good conditions of service for all health workers.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain has commended president Koroma for his efforts in improving health care in Sierra Leone and has promised his government’s support in current and future challenges associated with these efforts.
Photo: President Ernest Bai Koroma, losing patience.
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