In order to get improved living and working circumstances, the Syndicat national des personnels médico-sanitaires du Cameroun is asking for a strike “from 16 August 2022” in the nation’s public hospitals. During the walkout, “minimal service” will be offered, according to the unions. On Thursdays and Fridays, there “won’t be any burial and evacuation of dead in morgues,”
The following reasons are given by these trade unions as to why they will observe a work stoppage: the rejection of all temporary employees (27,000 people, or 60% of the workforce), the registration of all psychosocial support employees in public health facilities with the CNPS, the reinstatement of former temporary employees’ careers in public hospitals, and the distribution of health bonuses.
Additionally, they demand an increase in health workers’ pay, the harmonization of index and category salaries or the transfer of contract employees to the civil service, the fixation of temporary workers’ salaries (between 75,000 and 95,000 CFA francs depending on the category), the redistribution of operating subsidies to public health facilities under PBF (performance-based financing), and the care of ill health workers and their immediate families in accordance with the principles of the social contract.
The unions also criticize the non-allocation of a compensatory allowance to other administrative and support staff, the multi-speed pricing of procedures and care in hospitals with the same level of care, the failure to update the technical infrastructure of healthcare facilities “despite the Covid-19,” as well as the subpar placement of health staff at the conclusion of training schools and the “obscure” professional progression. If their demands were not met, the health workers threatened to go on strike on March 16.
Manaouda Malachie, the minister of public health, invited the major union leaders to a table on March 12 and 13 in an effort to defuse the strike. Following these discussions, the government member outlined a number of actions. These included automating career procedures and expediting the processing of employees waiting for pay at Minph. The unions, who had called for a stop to the strike to give talks with the administration a chance to succeed, do not appear to be persuaded by these steps.
“We must speak out louder and take more aggressive action to let everyone know that the delays we are experiencing are all part of a larger scheme. Because people have already waited too long, all of these issues are serious. The president of Synpems, Bala Bala, was called by SBBC and stated, “We want, if they schedule this, that we be given a timeframe, that it is signed, and that there are significant pledges from the government. At the time of going to print, the administration had not yet made an official response.
