By Mabinty M. Kamara
There seems to be no letup in the row between health workers and the Sierra Leone government after a fresh threat of a strike by medical doctors.
The Sierra Leone Medical and Dental Association (SLMDA) on Wednesday gave a 48-hour ultimatum to the government, demanding that they make all payments due healthcare workers as per the Memorandum of Understanding they signed or face a disruption in the sector.
The strike threat by the doctors was a response to the government’s statement earlier on Tuesday announcing that they had paid PAYE tax refunds to healthcare workers involved in the Covid-19 response efforts.
The SLMDA, which is the professional body representing medical doctors in the country, said that statement from the Ministry of Finance was a “farce and makes a mockery” of their situation.
All cadres of health workers had demanded compensation and incentives, including risk allowances, to facilitate their work on the pandemic.
The MoU signed with the government on 21 April, following a similar threat of strike, contains details of the package for the health workers. Among them is the refund for three months of PAYE tax deducted from their salaries.
In its statement, the Finance Ministry said it had paid the tax refund for the months of April and May directly into the bank accounts of all frontline workers since May 29, while promising to fulfill its other commitments to the health workers.
Over Le 6.5 billion was paid to 8,889 health care workers, according to the Ministry, which noted that that was in addition to the weekly allowances of Le 1,000,000 paid by the National COVID-19 Emergency Operation Center (NACOVERC) to frontline workers at the treatment and isolation centers, laboratories and quarantined homes/centers.
SLMDA said that not only was the allowance payment erratic, but also that not all health workers had received their PAYE tax refund.
“Allowances to healthcare workers in the very forefront in treatment and isolation centers are almost nonexistent at the end of the second month in the COIVID-19 fight. The promised PAYE refund has been erratic and only paid to some,” it said in its statement dated 3 June.
“If the situation is not resolved within 48 hours, it will lead to a massive disruption of healthcare services in Sierra Leone,” it added.
Dr. Samba Jalloh, Secretary General of SLMDA, explained to Politico that their concern was more with the risk allowance payment.
“This is the second month since [the start of the Covid-19 response] and we have not received any weekly allowance; which should have been eight million Leones, four million per month, one million leones per week,” he said on a telephone interview.
The SLMDA ultimatum comes just two days after surveillance workers in Covid-19 response went on strike over nonpayment of their weekly allowances.
Members of this low-level category of frontline workers downed tools on Monday and continued their sit-at-home on Tuesday and Wednesday, amidst negotiations with the government.
By Wednesday evening, reports indicated that they were to continue the strike on Thursday after the government again reneged on its promise to pay them as promised.
As we went to press there was no indication of an agreement with the government.
Some of the striking frontline workers told Politico that the Le 1,000,000 weekly allowance they were promised was reduced to Le500,000 on the excuse of lack of funding. The sources who cannot be named said that later on in the course of the negotiation, they were told again that they would now be paid Le200, 000 instead. They therefore vowed to push on with the strike action until they got an acceptable and practical offer.
The SLMDA thinly-veiled strike threat therefore adds fuel to the fire. And it is a major concern for the general public given the potential devastating effect it could have on an already struggling healthcare system, in the middle of a spiraling viral pandemic.
As of Wednesday June 4, Sierra Leone’s Covid-19 cumulative total of confirmed cases stood at 914.
Dr Jalloh acknowledged that their action was likely to have an impact on the country’s COVID-19 fight, but added that they felt obliged to stand for their interest.
“They [healthcare workers] cannot be working without paying them and now the government are saying that they have paid them. So if they have paid people, where are the people that are doing the work? Who have they paid?” he asked, rhetorically.
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