Healthcare workers at Ebola treatment centres in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are demanding unpaid salaries and higher hazard pay, warning of a strike that could disrupt patient care and efforts to contain the deadly virus.
Footage filmed on Wednesday in Butembo shows an Ebola treatment centre, with health workers walking out of treatment tents and moving around the facility. A poster reads, ‘Strike initiated by CTE-ITA-Bbo service providers. From November 5th until further notice’.
“We are here to demand our rights. We have been working since September, yet the government has done nothing for us. We are making this demand to ensure our rights are upheld—specifically, the regular payment of our remuneration,” Richard Mwepo, a service provider at Butembo Ebola Treatment Centre, said.
Nurses, hygienists and infection-control supervisors in Butembo, Katwa and Musienene announced an indefinite strike from Thursday, November 12, after their demands for better pay and working conditions went unresolved.
Denise Muvughe, head of the ITAV Ebola Treatment Centre, said workers had not been paid for two months. She urged the government to pay their outstanding salaries and increase their wages, saying they risk their lives to save others.
The strike threatens to disrupt patient treatment, the decontamination of medical facilities and infection-prevention activities, potentially weakening efforts to track and contain new infections.
“I am packing my things; we are going on strike because of our pay. We haven’t been paid. […] Give us our money so that we can return to work. Things might go poorly at the ETCs right now, but the workers have their rights, too. We have responsibilities; we need to be paid so we can provide for our households,” Kavira Neema, an Ebola response worker in Butembo, said.
Nurse Mwenda-Peke Cordulla echoed the concerns, saying healthcare workers leave their children at home to care for patients but cannot afford to send them to school because they have not been paid.
“I am a nurse; I treat the sick—I even bathe the patients, whether they are children or adults—yet I find myself exposed to risk for nothing, without even being paid,” she added.
Health authorities say measures are being taken to maintain treatment for confirmed and suspected Ebola patients. Dr Papy Mafuta, medical director of Katwa hospital, said senior officials were aware of the dispute and were working towards a solution.
The dispute threatens the response to DR Congo’s deadly Ebola outbreak, which had recorded 11,114 confirmed cases and 5,433 deaths as of November 10, according to the country’s National Institute of Public Health. North Kivu is among eight provinces affected by the outbreak.
Source: Viory
