Bissau, June 26, 2024 (Lusa) - The vice-president of the Guinea-Bissau Human Rights League, Edmar Nhaga, on Wednesday denounced "a bleak picture" in the country's public health sector, which has been plagued by a general strike that is now in its fourth wave.
The leader of the League was taking stock of three days of the general strike, called by the Social Front that brings together health and education unions, which "has caused suffering for the people" in the face of hospitals and health centres that "already lack the capacity to respond".
Edmar Nhaga said that the "dark picture" of Guinea-Bissau's health system "is visible" in the country's main medical centre, the Simão Mendes National Hospital in Bissau.
"The Simão Mendes National Hospital works virtually without an ultrasound machine. The machine there can't take clear images because it's broken on one side. The hospital currently has no x-ray film, no blood test reagents, the laboratory is closed and there are no blood supplies available for patients who need them," said Nhaga.
The leader of the Guinea-Bissau Human Rights League also denounced the fact that the paediatric services are at half capacity" and questioned the non-functioning of an oxygen production plant funded by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The only oxygen production plant operating at the Simão Mendes National Hospital is the one run by a private company that sells the product to patients, said Edmar Nhaga.
The vice-president of the Guinea-Bissau Human Rights League also said that "the situation worsens" when the majority of professionals at Simão Mendes go on strike, without guaranteeing minimum service levels at the hospital.
"The law says that the accident and emergency department can't be on strike, at the moment there's only one doctor there, and he's an orthopaedic doctor. The maternity ward is understaffed. Pregnant women are being sent home," observed the leader of the Human Rights League.
Edmar Nhaga argues that the health unions have the right to strike because, he said, their demands are not being met by the government, but he urges them to comply with the law regarding the obligation to provide minimum services.
According to a medical source at Simão Mendes Hospital, the strike, which began on Monday and ends today, has caused two deaths due to lack of assistance.
The strike is aimed at demanding that the government pay 12 months' salaries to professionals in the two sectors, and hire health technicians and teachers who have not yet been permanently appointed to the state civil service.
The protest is also a way of pressuring the government to pay various allowances to teachers and health technicians, to create and introduce a new curriculum for state schools, and to improve working conditions in both sectors.
The Social Front also wants the government to put an end to the "political appointments" of heads in schools and health centres.
This is the fourth wave of general strikes in the two sectors since the beginning of the year.
MB/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
