By Mabinty M. Kamara
Health workers at the Pujehun Covid-19 treatment center say they have stopped working because they have not been paid their weekly hazard allowances since they started working there in May.
A spokeswoman for the group, who cannot be named, said those affected were one medical doctor, nine nurses, four cleaners, two sprayers, one community health officer, four cooks and one data entry clerk.
Another health worker there told Politico that they had initially planned to go on strike last week but that the local health authorities pleaded with them to hold on until yesterday, Tuesday August 4. She said that at the close of business yesterday the payment hadn’t been made, so they decided to abandon the four COVID19 patients who are presently receiving treatment.
The spokesman for the Pujehun District Covid-19 Emergency Response Centre (DICOVERC), Mohamed T. Massaquoi, said that the health workers had alerted the DiCOVERC that they were going to down tools in the treatment center which falls under the case management unit because of delay in payment of their weekly hazards. Massaqui noted that the coordinator for the DiCOVERC had engaged the National Covid-19 Emergency Response Center (NaCOVERC) and that their issue were supposed to have been addressed by Tuesday.
The DICOVERC spokesman went on to say that the problem was not limited to the health workers at the treatment center, noting that the entire district response team was affected. He therefore pleaded with the health workers to be a little more patient as they sought a lasting solution.
“This is a crisis and we have pleaded with them to understand. Even we at DiCOVERC have not been paid, but we are not on strike. We have already been responding to their basic needs at the center but as DiCOVERC, this one is above us because it has to directly deal with the NACOVERC,” Massaquoi said.
He added that they had made several moves and were assured that before the end of this week the issue will be resolved.
According to the DICOVERC spokesman, 20 patients have been admitted at the treatment center since its inception in May. He said 14 of these have survived and have been discharged, while two were transferred to Freetown due to the critical nature of their conditions. The remaining four, he said, were currently at the center responding to the treatment.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday August 4, Pujehun recorded its first death to the pandemic. Massaquoi said the victim was a quarantined resident who had been tested and was awaiting their result before their demise. He said the result came back positive.
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