General and Open Strike by the Doctors Syndicate in Libya
The captain of the Libyan Doctors Syndicate, Muhammad al-Ghouj, told our reporters, that the main goal of the strike is to raise the salaries of doctors, auxiliary medical staff and health sector workers, as stated in our previous demands, which continued for several years without a response from the authorities, despite the warnings issued by the authorities. The union more than once before resorting to a strike.
poor condition
The requests of members of the Medical Syndicate do not stop at the financial demands only, but extend to the demand to raise the level of services in the health institution that suffers from crises and which have a direct impact on the health of citizens in Libya, doctors and all members of the health sector. Members of the medical and aid crews died, as a result of being infected with the Corona virus, as martyrs of duty.
Al-Ghouj revealed that there are quite a few hospitals that have been suffering a cut in doctors’ salaries for four and sometimes five years, without any action from the government to solve this ongoing crisis, which certainly leads to a direct deterioration in the level of services in those hospitals.
Al-Ghouj indicated that the Medical Syndicate in Libya contacted the Prime Minister for the first time, and a radical solution to the problem that the medical sector in Libya has suffered for years has not been reached and affects the health of citizens and doctors alike.
He continued, “The strike aims to compel the legislative and executive authorities to deal seriously with our demands, to enable us to alleviate the suffering of the health sector, especially in remote areas such as the south, where the patient needs to travel hundreds of kilometers to reach hospitals in major cities for treatment.”
exception
Regarding the cases excluded from participating in the doctors’ strike, Al-Ghouj stressed that emergency and life-saving cases do not participate in the strike to preserve the lives of citizens, especially since the strike aims primarily to preserve people’s lives and consider the deteriorating health situation in Libya.
Al-Ghouj concluded his speech by stressing that the health sector has become a collapsed sector, and we want the responsible authorities to pay attention to the demands and needs of this important sector.
In the southern region, Halima al-Mahri, a spokeswoman for the Sabha Medical Center, told “Sky News Arabia”, that the cities of the south did not adhere to the strike to a great extent and are awaiting communication with the main union, which stated more than once to communicate with the subsidiary unions, hospitals and medical centers. To agree on the implementation mechanism, while several periods in the West have already entered into force.
She pointed out that many medical centers and hospitals in southern Libya are in poor condition and need to urgently reconsider the matter to preserve the lives of citizens, and look at the material conditions of medical workers as a whole.
antecedents
And last June, the Libyan Doctors Syndicate went on a partial strike, and then decided to escalate the measures, and announced its resort to the World Health Organization, UNICEF and other international organizations in the country.
As a result, the Libyan Minister of Health, Ali Al-Zanati, told Sky News Arabia that the health sector has been subjected to great pressure during the past years, and this pressure has worsened the state of division in the country, and the structural disintegration of the health sector and its institutions, which has put workers in the sector in a difficult situation, Especially those who deal directly with service recipients, including patients and companions.
He explained that doctors were subjected to pressure and violations, and despite this, they did not delay work, and made sacrifices while performing their professional duty, at a time when services were suspended in many institutions, and that their demands were legitimate.
