Three Patients Die As Hospital Staff Strike Over Bonuses
At least three patients have died at Bor Civil Hospital after the hospital’s 250 employees staged at sit down strike over unpaid bonuses this week. 25 April 2013 Patients at the Bor Civil Hospital. [Jacob Achiek Jok] By Jacob Achiek Jok BOR, 24 April 2013 [Gurtong] –The three patients died during weekend as the strike which broke out last week leave only eight doctors and few junior staff taking care of the more than 60 patients in the hospital. The Hospital’s Medical Assistant Deng John Machok has said that they have conducted sit down complaining for their right to be given bonuses. “What we are doing is not strike but was called sitting down strike of which we are looking for our rights, we are looking for five months hardship allowances of which we have not received,” Machok said. Deng said that the state minister of Health has not responded to them in a way that they should understand. “When we asked the minister of health he told us that do you know the constitution of Jonglei state or have you signed any letter of hardship allowances with the government of Jonglei state through ministry of public services,” he said. Deng said that the minister told them that their letter has been approved but no any cast money to be paid to them according to statement from ministry of finance. “Now we have been waiting, been patient for this five months and if the others are receiving their allowances especially the doctors within the hospital are receiving their 4,000 South Sudanese pounds each with that we need our rights to be given as well,” Deng said. He said that they are seeking 500 SSP allowance for medical assistants and clinical officers, 400 SSP for nurses and 100 SSP for cleaners. He said two months allowances were given to them last August and October have not received anything since November 2012. Deng said that hardship allowances are related to over time and the whole hospital requires 61,000 SSP for the 247 staff. He said that they have withdrawn their services from the hospital so that doctors can do their work. He said that they had 48 hours for the government to respond but no response given to them. The workers said that they should not be held responsible for the death of the three patients since the death came suddenly. The state minister of Health, Jehan Mechak Deng was not in a position to comment on the issue but she had debated the case with the state council of ministers on how they could rescue and intervene. Posted in: Home, Health -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
