Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Over sixty medical interns deployed to Juba Teaching Hospital have gone on strike for more than a week over alleged bad working conditions, their representative said.
The medical students laid done their tools on Saturday, August 5, while demanding an increment in their incentives.
“Doctors laid down their tools because of incentive issues,” Dut David, one of the medical practitioners, told Eye Radio in a phone interview on Thursday.
Mr. David accused the hospital administration of uttering harsh remarks at them despite their “hard work” and dedication to serve patients.
“What we’re doing is the work of the nation, we’re serving this country and we’re supposed to be appreciated. We don’t want to be rich. We’re not even demanding the administration with a lot of money.”
“The little we’re requesting is for maintenance, transport fares, and for our soap. The administration is not doing it. We’ve been engaging them for a long without a reply on time.”
“The way they could respond is very harsh and threatening. So, we decided better to lay down our tools such that the administration of the hospital can continue with the work if they think we are not that very important.”
Dut said patients in the hospital have been mostly relying on the students for medication.
“Patients are there in the wards, and medications are not given. Even the nurses that they’re saying are working, they’re not working.”
“So, it in fact don’t very good for a doctor to see to see our patients suffering but these conditions have been imposed on us by the administrations with those harsh words without being appreciated while doing work, someone need be to be appreciated.”
Dr. Akon Bhel, the Deputy Director for Accident and Eminencies at Juba Teaching Hospital also confirmed the strike in an interview with Eye Radio.
He appeals to intern doctors to resume work, adding that he will take up their complaints to ensure they get their incentives.
“My request is, I need the intern doctors to resume their duties, and then what they’re demanding we’ll try to resolve these issues administratively. This is the way because there’s no other way,” he said.
“The demands of our interns, we all know the situations of demands all over the world and including South Sudan is not new to us they’ve to accept the reality to come and resume their work, and we’ll push communications until they get the small incentive. This is my advice.”
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