Nurses, doctors and administrative staff affiliated with the CDT held, on Wednesday 29 February, a protest sit-in in front of the regional delegation of the Ministry of Health of Oujda accompanied by a 24-hour strike. A protest act to denounce the non-application of the commitments made during previous talks, specify the slogans expressed by the sixty strikers present at this sit-in.

"The strike that we are holding today follows a series of meetings held with local officials. The latter committed to applying certain points on which we had agreed, but until now we have felt nothing tangible. Worse still, working conditions are deteriorating more and more", explained Abdelkader Halout, a union official.

The working conditions of the staff, doctors, scientific doctors, medical assistants, nurses and technical nurses, and service agents, etc., are degrading. Security is absent at the level of health districts, cleanliness too. Something that has repercussions on the quality of care offered to patients. A situation that also affects the relationship of the nursing staff with the population, explained the demonstrators. Some even specified to ALM that "in some centres asepsis is 100% lacking in care and that the medical corps could generate infections for the treated population. This transforms care establishments into establishments for the spread of diseases".

Likewise, the protesters say they are against the lack of staff and the absence of any realistic approach to meet expectations in this area. The non-granting of bonuses for certain categories of nurses, even though they are mentioned, also constitutes a point of discord.

"Assignments while meeting the criteria of the circular that organises the movement of doctors, nurses and administrators are not applied with equity. This is the case for nurses who have submitted medical files that authorise them to work in services where there is no pressure, but who do not benefit from a favour that is acquired by right", adds Mr. Halout. Furthermore, the strikers raised the case of service houses that the ministry provides to its staff but that some officials occupy even though they no longer work in the delegation where they live. "It is only the small civil servants who must leave, as soon as possible, these service houses once assigned to other provinces", repeated some unionists.

That said, the protesters do not intend to limit themselves to sit-ins in front of the regional delegation of the Ministry of Health if their demands are not met. They plan to hold others in front of the wilaya of the Oriental in a first step, then to trigger a strike at the regional level.

By: Ali Kharroubi

DNCR in Oujda