Health workers’ strike spreads to Siavonga

Health workers at Siavonga district hospital have joined their colleagues in other parts of the country in the ongoing strike, a move that has paralyzed operations at the health institution.

And children that were admitted in the children’s ward at the institution have been removed and admitted together with elderly patients in the female ward due to the strike by nurses and other health personnel.

Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) District Chairperson Martin Mwenya confirmed the health workers’ strike action in an interview with ZANIS in Siavonga this morning.

Mr. Mwenya disclosed that the decision by Siavonga health workers was arrived at in a meeting that was held yesterday to discuss the way forward on the issue.
He said workers unanimously resolved to go on strike on premises that government was taking long to address their demands for improved conditions of service and increased salaries.

“The workers met yesterday (Tuesday) and voted that they were joining their fellow workers who have already gone on strike because government was not promising them anything with regards to the improvement of their conditions of service,” he stated.

He however said the meeting resolved to draw up a timetable at the hospital to allow few staff members to attend to serious cases in the maternity ward.

But a check by ZANIS this morning found only two nurses attending to all cases in the district hospital.
The check also revealed that all children that were admitted in their ward were yesterday taken to the female ward where they are admitted together with adults that have different ailments.

Judy Mumbwali, a mother who was found nursing her child, disclosed that children were ordered to move out of the children’s ward on Tuesday afternoon and told to go to the female ward because they would have no one to attend to them if they remained there.

Acting District Director of Health Thierry Beya vehemently refused to speak to the ZANIS reporter who approached him for a comment on the strike.

But Siavonga District Commissioner, Emily Striedl, condemned the strike action saying there was a better way of resolving the problem than resorting to a strike action.

Meanwhile, other civil servants in Solwezi district of Northwestern province have joined nurses and teachers in the strike, demanding improved conditions of service and increased salaries.

Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) regional Secretary, Kennedy Musopelo, told ZANIS in Solwezi that the decision by other civil servants to join the strike action was reached at a meeting held on Friday last week.

Mr. Musopelo said that the workers were demanding for K1, 000,000.00 housing allowance and salary increment of K800, 000 across the board.

He said workers complained that government has also received the concerns of improving their conditions of service, including the rural hardship and the fixed band allowances.

Mr. Musopelo further charged that civil servants in Northwestern Province were not happy with the way car loans were being disbursed at the provincial administration, alleging that only those who work there were considered.

He alleged that the provincial administration only gives priority to those who work there and not those from different government departments. This has displeased the workers in other government departments.

And a check by ZANIS at Solwezi general hospital found trainee nurses helping the doctors in wards while other departments were being manned by those in management.

In another development, the condition of three people who were shot at by a traditional healer in the early hours of Monday this week has improved although one of them is still in a serious condition.
The three are currently admitted to Solwezi general hospital.

Hospital authorities said one patient, who was shot in the abdomen has since undergone an operation while the other man still has the bullet lodged in the left side of his chest.
The hospital sources said the third person, a woman, was only bruised by the bullet and would be discharged soon.

On Monday this week, a traditional healer Alex Mabomba, alias Dr. Mutipula, allegedly shot and wounded two men and one woman at Akisa night club.

ZANIS