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| National |
| Lilongwe doctors, nurses go on strike |
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by
Leonard Sharra, 02 November 2004
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08:28:40
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Health workers from Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe on Monday laid down their tools, leaving scores of patients helpless as they protested the new salary adjustments which have made their net income lower than before.
This is despite President Bingu wa Mutharika’s promises that civil servants’ salaries would be adjusted upwards with effect from October.
Students from Kamuzu College of Nursing (KCN), senior nursing managers (matrons) and senior clinicians were deployed in the admission wards to save lives of scores of patients, who were abandoned by the health workers.
But the situation proved worse for patients in the casualty, referral and out patients (OPD) departments, where patients were left unattended for almost the whole day.
“I have come from Ntchisi and have been here since 8 AM but there is nobody to attend to us,” complained a patient in the referral unit in the afternoon.
At the casualty ward, a seriously ill patient lied helplessly as the striking workers sat outside the hospital. In the admission wards, patients said they were getting help from the deployed students and senior workers but described the type of help they were getting as abnormal.
According to a petition dated October 29 and addressed to the Secretary for Health, the workers wanted their salaries to be adjusted upwards “and not downwards”, a distinction between technical and subordinate staff and the reintroduction of allowances which have been removed from their pay.
“We thank the head of state for the repeated announcements and assurance that civil servants salaries will be adjusted upwards with effect from October, 2004. However, we feel betrayed, cheated, frustrated, demotivated and demoralised after receiving our October salaries. The salaries have been adjusted downwards and all the allowances have been scrapped off,” reads part of the petition.
According to the workers, there was no distinguishing factor between professional staff (nurses, doctors, clinical officers, dental, radiography and laboratory technicians) and auxiliary nurses or patient attendants, who they said were getting almost the same pay as the qualified staff.
As evidence, the workers produced pay slips of some qualified nurses with MSCE and over 10 years working experience and ground labourers, who were getting almost the same pay. The pay slips also showed the professional workers’ net salaries had gone down by considerable amounts.
Asked whether it was legal for hospital staff to go on strike, a representative for the workers Hastings Kamiza said: “We are not on strike as such. We are hungry people, chased from our houses for nonpayment of rent and some of us have footed to work. We were here at 7.30 and will be back same time tomorrow.
“But nobody will be going to the wards unless we get balances of the money we have been deducted and a written assurance from the ministry that the scrapped allowances will be back and the salaries will go up.”
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health responsible for HIV and Nutrition Mary Shawa, who failed to convince the workers to go back to work in the afternoon hours, said later in the evening she had completed her part of the deal.
“I have done my part and it’s up to them to do their part by going back to work. The problem is that they are adamant. They want something written and with money issues it’s not every Jim and Jack that signs.
“As I am talking to you, everything to do with how much each individual has been deducted has been completed and I am just waiting for a signed letter. They will be paid their balances,” said Shawa.
On the legality of the strike, Shawa said: “That’s the next thing to be discussed because it touches on the oath of duty. We were first dealing with the issue at hand.”
According to hospital director Damson Kathyola, there were no serious issues or deaths resulting from the strike as the KCN students and senior workers volunteered to assist patients.
“As I am talking now, we are trying to find some nurses to assist us during the night. There are some who are volunteering themselves to work,” said Kathyola.
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