Since Monday, February 27, 2023, the executive offices of the Trade Union Committees of the Hospital and University Center (CHU) Gabriel Touré in Bamako have started an indefinite strike. A work stoppage that raises many questions and especially concerns among the population. In this period of high heat where the hospitalization rate is high, is the worst to be feared? To make matters worse, no agreement was reached with the strikers to put an end to this ordeal.
The doctors’ strike has paralyzed public hospitals, which are now idling. For non-satisfaction of their grievances, one of the largest hospitals in Mali is on strike. it is the CHU Gabriel Touré. The doctors who work there began an indefinite strike on Monday February 27, 2023. On site, normal consultations are no longer possible. Only emergency cases are taken care of. Doctors denounce the lack of equipment in public structures, something that hinders their proper functioning. As a consequence, this deficit is also the cause of several deaths. The strike also aims to improve the quality of service provided to patients, however, they are still the biggest losers.
For the moment, negotiations with the government have failed, making the situation of the sick alarming. Patients, the first victims of the Doctors-Government standoff, are brooding in these two hospitals for lack of competent personnel. As a result, the method chosen by the union is proving to be radical for a country that is trying to build its image in the health sector. However, to deal with it, a minimum service is therefore essential. The Union claims to have thought about it. On the other hand, testimonies contradict this version. Indeed, for lack of adequate care, users have been forced to return to their homes because only interns are accessible, we learned from a reliable source.
According to some officials, it would be impossible to work with current equipment. Claims which may be legitimate but which have serious consequences for citizens. The equation is simple, when agents are not working, they are patients who are not taken care of then it is consultations that do not take place and the end result, for lack of care, the patients return everything simply the soul. When will this situation end to the delight of the patients? This is the question that is on everyone’s lips, because this situation does not help either the authorities or the doctors’ unions, even less the patients. So the two parties in conflict are challenged in order to find a compromise to the delight of the patients.
Negotiations
Other sources, however, claim that an informal meeting took place on Monday, February 27, 2023, between officials from the Ministry of Health and Social Development and certain strikers from the CHU Gabriel Touré, in particular Professor Losseni Bengaly and Amadou Maïga. Thus, the objective of this meeting was to see how they can find a solution to end the current strike at the Hospital and University Center (CHU) Gabriel Touré. “But this meeting took place informally because the Ministry of Public Service deemed the strike notice inadmissible,” said a source familiar with the matter.
“Our two interlocutors expressed their concerns. This is the problem of toilets, the lack of reagents, the lack of a framework for consultation, the normalization of wage life. They denounced the fact that 80% of the operational assessment is done in the private sector due to a lack of reagents. According to them, the scanner cannot be used in an emergency. The two trade unionists wanted a conciliation commission to be set up,” explains the same source.
As a reminder, the union committees accuse the director general of the Gabriel Touré hospital of having contempt for them. Since, this one, by his repetitive actions hinders freedom of association. Also, they believe that there is a failure to respect the commitments made by the Government in relation to the protocols signed with the union committees of the CHU Gabriel Touré.
In addition to these criticisms, there are: the attempted violation of regulatory texts by the Director General of the hospital, in particular those relating to the designation of staff representatives to sit on the hospital’s Board of Directors; the inadequacy and increasing deterioration of production and service tools for better patient care at the Gabriel Touré hospital; the contempt shown by the management of the hospital with regard to the dual-owned staff, in particular in the blocking of the regularization of the bonuses for special functions. Also, they note during the meetings organized by the Ministry of Health and Social Development , a lack of will to find solutions to the problems posed and above all a contempt for union officials during meetings. The ball is now in the court of the government, which must do everything possible to find a definitive solution to these series of strikes which are paralyzing the country with their batches of deaths.
Ahmadou Sekou Kanta
Source: The Observatory
