By Leocadia Bongben
Temporary medical workers of the Yaounde Central Hospital who make up some 80 percent of the staff are on strike.The disgruntled workers are demanding integration into the public service.
In a communiqué signed by the President of the temporary medical workers, Balla Balla, on December 31, and posted on the walls around the hospital, urges all the medical temporary personnel to stay home as from January 2.
The striking workers are arguing that in line with the prescription of the Minister ofPublic Service and Administrative Reforms, there should be no temporary workers in 2009.The decision by the workers to stay at home, The Post learnt, is in respect of the decision taken by the Minister.
Following the strike action, the Central Hospital is experiencing an acute shortage of personnel and the few who are still working staff are overworked.At the emergency ward, this reporter met one of the nurses on duty who explained her ordeal since the morning of January 3.
Alone, she said she had to administer injections, dress wounds and place drips on more than 12 patients. “I had to sweep, put the dirt into dustbins and buy a bottle of beer for someone with my money for him to help me dispose of it,” she lamented.The nurse, who asked for anonymity, said some medical students and staffs who were not on duty were called back, but they are not able to arrest the situation.
Patient attendants were forced to bear part of the problems, especially in dressing the wounds of a man whose leg was in an advanced state of decomposition.Popularly known as “vacataire,” the nurse said the striking workers are well trained but because they are not yet incorporated in the public service, they are treated poorly.
According to the nurse, there is need to ensure the prolongation of the retirement age for nurses to 60 as has been done for teachers and equally regularise the situation of temporary workers.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Hospital, Prof. Biwole Sida, and some of his staff, like the head of the Emergency Unit, George Alain Etoundi Mballa, could not comment. A note by the Minister of Public Health, Andre Mama Fouda, addressed to the Director of the Hospital and the staff, urged them to go on with their duties to ensure care for the sick while waiting for the implementation of the law adopted in the last session of the National Assembly.
One of the staff at the hospital commented that the Minister simply drafted the note without getting in contact with the president of the temporary medical personnel. “If something is not done fast, there will be serious problems in the days ahead,” the worker said.
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