adminFREETOWN — Junior doctors at Sierra Leone’s main hospital went on strike on Monday in protest over inadequate equipment to fight the Ebola epidemic ravaging the country. The action at Freetown’s Connaught Hospital follows the deaths of three doctors in two days, with new figures showing Sierra Leone has overtaken Liberia as the country with the most infections.
“We’ve decided to withhold our services until proper and more conducive atmosphere is created for us to continue our work,” the Junior Doctors Association said in statement.
The association did not say how many doctors were joining the action, but patients were reporting significant disruptions as senior consultants headed to the wards to cover their work.
One junior told AFP she and her colleagues were “depressed” and “losing courage to turn up for work” because of the lack of equipment.
“We’re also worried over the deaths of our colleagues… which is very disheartening,” she said.
The doctors say they don’t have enough respiratory machines and vital signs monitors, and that intensive care facilities are lacking in an Italian-built treatment centre in the west of the city to which some of them are due to be sent.
A source at the Junior Doctors Association said the union was due to meet yesterday to decide whether to continue the action.
The World Health Organisation published new figures on Monday showing that Sierra Leone was registering the most cases in west Africa, for the first time, with 7,798 cases compared with Liberia’s 7,719.
Sierra Leone has recorded around 1,742 Ebola deaths this year and has registered a worrying surge recently of cases in its western area, including the capital.
Ten Sierra Leonean doctors have died after contracting Ebola. — AFP.
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