Nurses strike after 18 months without pay!

Nurses attached to the UBC Mission Hospital in Mattru Jong, Bonthe District have gone on strike demanding that their eighteen month backlog salary should be paid or they will not work, Sierra Express Media has been informed.

In an interview with Alamatu Nanday Mohamed, one of the senior staff members, she revealed that the health workers have been on strike for nearly one month now, and that there has not been any attempt by the government or the mission authorities to look into the matter.

“We will not return to work in that hospital as the hospital administrators do not care for us and that is why they are delaying the payment of our backlog salaries,” she said.

According to reports, the hospital administration has run out of funds to continue running, and government could not rescue the situation as the mission is not prepared to hand over the hospital to government.  According to one senior administrator, who asked not to be named, talks are currently underway at administration level to see how to ensure that the hospital is properly maintained.

Hospital administration sources claim they have tried to engage the striking nurses to a compromise solution, where they hope the problem will be solved and the stalemate avoided.

“We are in dire need of medical assistance but to no avail as almost all the nurses have abandoned the hospital, and this is the only hospital in this part of the country,” said Mr. Juana Alpha, a patient who said he has now spent two years in the hospital as a patient but that he has not receive any treatment or medication.

 Meanwhile the nurses are determined and have said they will not be ready to compromise. It is reported that this is not the first time nurses have been working in this hospital with no pay given to them.

Apart from nurses, other workers in the hospitals, including cleaners have also added their voice in complaining for lack of salary all these months. It is highly believed that although the mission is funding the hospital, most of this money is being spent by corrupt administrative officers of the hospital.

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