Nurses of Juba Hospital go on strike over unpaid bonuses
January 24, 2009 (JUBA) — Juba Teaching Hospital nurses have entered their fifth day of strike as their minister has failed to meet them and address their demand for unpaid bonuses.
The protest which has begun last Monday is motivated by the nonpayment of infection allowance. More than 700 nurses ask for 1500 Sudanese pound per person declared the strike for the first time on January 20.
Speaking from Juba Teaching Hospital, Dr. Nur el Din said emergency students brought from nursing and university schools are inexperienced in assisting 23 doctors in handling patients. He wondered why infection allowance of nurses should be deliberately denied.
He appeals to health administrators to quickly solve the demand with the strikers but some administrators said that nurses will be brought from Uganda and Kenya to replace the Sudanese.
Officials at health ministry including the acting minister, Mary Kiden Kimbo, have failed to tackle the situation while the minister Dr. Joseph Minytuil, has not been in Juba since Christmas holiday.
Juba Teaching Hospital wards were virtually empty on Saturday but emergency and Operation Theater is operating with reduced staff.
(ST)
Gatwech
Nurses of Juba Hospital go on strike over unpaid bonuses
Nurses,
Please stop the strikes, don’t let your patients die in the hospital because of allowances. I hope you get salaries and only want to add allowances. Even soldiers have been waiting for salaries for years, but if they go on rampage the situation would be serious. They chose to complaint while carrying out their duties. Do the same while you resolve the issue with the authority. Don’t stop working!