The striking staff said they had been pushed to the streets to demand for their pay so as to plan for their families

By Makur Adut

Rumbek State Hospital staff laid down tools on Tuesday demanding four months’ incentive arrears from UNICEF.

Monica Yar, a midwife working at the Hospital said they have not been paid their incentives for almost 4 months.

“Before the UNICEF came in, Health Pool Fund used to pay us every month, but since UNICEF took over in July, we began to experience a lot of challenges and delays in incentive payments,” she said.

“We were only given an incentive for July which was paid in September and you know for us, we are having children, especially, myself, I am having a family.”

“We came here to work to feed our children at home and also the relatives because we are not just working for ourselves. We are working for our families and if you come to work and go back home empty that means your children are going to be suffering and they will not eat any food and sometimes you can lose them,” Ms. Yar stated.

Dr. Teran Madit Teran, a senior medical officer at Rumbek State Hospital confirmed the strike..

“It was yesterday afternoon that we noticed that there were some activities that were coming from the staff of the hospital. Some sort of unorganized individuals strike that was happening,” he said.

“So, immediately as a management team, we called an emergency meeting. We called all the in-charge and the head of departments and we asked them what was going on,” he said.

Dr. Madit noted that a lot of issues were raised by the workers during the meeting.

“One of their demand is the incentives of about four months because since this project started, they received only one month, which was for July.”

“We told them that taking part in the strike is their right, but also in a health setting, it has its own rules and regulations, meaning we need to do some reception and handle all the emergency cases,” Dr. Yar added.

He said they agreed that all the emergency cases are to be screened, and handled properly.

On his part, James Salah Makoi registered midwife working at Rumbek State Hospital said: “So, now the whole hospital is closed down and the views of the staff are that until they are paid their incentives they will start to resume their work.”

“One of their demand is the incentives of about four months because since this project started, they received only one month, which was for July.” Dr. Teran Madit Teran, a senior medical officer at Rumbek State Hospital.