Health workers in Sierra Leone state-run Ebola treatment center – Connaught Hospital, Freetown, went on strike on Tuesday over pay and poor working conditions.
Mariana Jalloh, a Nurse at the hospital, said services at Connaught Hospital came to a standstill as dozens of health workers downed tools, demanding extra pay and better equipment to treat Ebola.
She said the strike had become imperative because government had failed to provide workers with safety gears to protect themselves from the deadly Ebola virus which had killed many people, including nurses and doctors. [eap_ad_1] Fatmata Samura, another nurse on strike, said “our minds are not at rest because we are afraid of contracting Ebola at any time.’’
Madina Rahman, Deputy Health Minister, said the Government would do everything possible to ensure that their concerns were addressed.
World Health Organisation (WHO) said Sierra Leone had reported 1,026 suspected or confirmed cases of Ebola by Aug. 26, with 422 deaths.
Meanwhile, WHO said as at Tuesday the number of people who had died of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo had risen to 31.
WHO said the first reported case, a pregnant woman who died on Aug. 11, infected several health workers at a local clinic.
It said this was the seventh such epidemic in Congo since 1976, while more than 1,500 people had died in the West Africa outbreak. (dpa/NAN)
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