Health workers demand 2 months salaries

Workers at the Unity Conference Center Ebola Treatment Unit in Virginia, Montserrado County have staged a protest in demand of salaries for November and December, 2014.

A spokesperson for the aggrieved workers, Daniel Wonee, told The NewDawn Tuesday that the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare instructed them to open accounts with Access Bank and GT Bank in Monrovia where their monthly salary will be transferred for payment, but after they did, the money has not be placed into their accounts.

Mr. Wonee said they have been working since November, saying, “We were told that we were going to get our salary the first week in January but up to now, we have not received a cent.”

According to him, this is not the first time the government and the health workers have reached this point, adding that since the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease here, health workers have been going through this.

Mr. Wonee said if they don’t get their salaries, nobody will be allowed into or out of the ETU.

The Officer-In-Charge of the Unity Conference Center ETU, Dr. Hart, confirmed to this paper that his staff hasn’t been paid for the past two months.

According to him, the Health Ministry had promised to pay the health workers the first week in January, but he doesn’t know why they have not been paid yet, adding that he can’t speak for the finance office because he doesn’t know what the problem is.

Dr. Hart however appealed to the striking workers to allow him to go into the ETU to treat patients there.