Africa-Press – Lesotho. Health workers in Mokhotlong, Thaba-Tseka, and Qacha’s Nek say they will down tools starting tomorrow after the government failed to address their grievances.
In a letter to the Minister of Health, Selibe Mochoboroane, the workers said they will go on strike because the government had ignored their demands. The workers, who include health professionals such as doctors and nurses, say they will only attend to “serious emergencies”.
The health workers have been on a “go-slow” for the past three weeks. They had said they were expecting the government to address their grievances or else they would strike.
The shutdown follows a stalemate between the workers and the Health Ministry on whether they would get their hardship allowances reviewed. The workers are demanding that the government reviews their hardship allowance from M275 to M5 000 per month.
In a press statement yesterday, the workers said “the ministry has been mute from the first time we were writing”. They said they had embarked on a go-slow to force the government to respond but all was to no avail.
They said since the authorities have “refused to negotiate in good faith” regarding their demands, “which we believe is our right to voice our demands, we have no other recourse than to begin our shutdown” tomorrow.
They added that they will remain on shutdown until an agreement is reached. “This shutdown will occur in a sense that we will be on duty but only for serious emergencies,” their letter says.
They wrote that their reasons to request a review include massive inflation that led to an increase in everything. The workers also asked for the ministry to introduce an allowance that would encourage people to work in rural areas.
They complain that they are often forced to use their own money to buy resources like heaters during the winter seasons just to get their job done. The Ministry of Health’s Communications Manager, ’Mamolise Falatsa, could not be reached for comment last night.
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