Health movement holds to escalation after a month and a half of sit-in
LIBYA – Shaaban Harama, head of the Health Sector Movement Union in Libya, has said health workers remain committed to their rights and will keep protesting by every means available, warning of deteriorating conditions for health workers and medical facilities and of continued procrastination in responding to their demands.
Speaking by phone to Libya Al-Ahrar TV, in remarks followed by Al-Marsad, Harama said the sit-in has been going on for more than a month and a half because the government and the House of Representatives have not responded to the workers’ demands, adding that the sit-in is now a past stage as the movement moves to escalate its action.
Wages and the priority of medical staff
Harama said a decent living for health sector workers is a basic right that is not open to debate, adding that all workers, in his words, live below the poverty line.
He stressed that the deterioration of the health situation is now well known to citizens, and that tackling the crisis in services must begin with the rights of the people who provide them, rather than being limited to talk of medicines and supplies.
He affirmed that workers want to provide health services to all Libyans, but argued that granting staff their full rights must come before completing the supply of medicines and equipment, which he accused the Ministry of Health and the government of failing to secure in a way that fulfils citizens’ right to proper care.
Breakdowns and supply shortages during children’s heart operations
Harama said the arrival of an American medical team to perform heart operations on children at Tripoli Medical Centre had, according to his account, revealed breakdowns and shortages of medicines and supplies in the operating theatres, to the point that one doctor had to buy medicines with his own money to complete the surgeries.
He expressed regret over these incidents and over what he described as silence or disregard from several media outlets, questioning the role of the media in highlighting the suffering of patients and workers.
Protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office and the Sabha session awaited
He called on citizens to back health workers at their protest on Sunday morning, 1 November, outside the headquarters of the Prime Minister’s Office, in defence of workers’ dignity and citizens’ right to safe treatment.
He said the movement had contacted the relevant authorities but, by his account, had met with delays and promises that were not kept, prompting workers to move from the sit-in to escalatory steps.
He concluded that escalatory measures have been decided and are beginning to be implemented in consultation among the movement’s members, saying there is limited hope that parliament will grant some rights in the next two days, pending the outcome of the Sabha session.
