Health workers, students on strike

Health professionals in Chad's public health sector entered on Wednesday the third day of a strike aimed at pressuring the government into disbursing money owed to them. The one-week strike started on Monday and has been widely observed througout the nation, a local source said. Government hospitals and health facilities since Monday have been operating on reduced staff, with few services administering care to patients, Sylvestre Ngueto of CILONG, an umbrella NGO organisation in the capital N'djamena, told IRIN on Wednesday. Private clinics and facilities remain open, however many of the patients do not have the money to pay for private consultations, Ngueto said. The strike is a result of non-payment of salaries and other remunerations which the government had promised them. It has not done so citing budgetary constraints under a structural adjustment programme set up by the IMF and the World Bank. The government on Tuesday asked the group "to soften its position by taking into consideration the fact that the country is under structural adjustment", Ngueto confirmed media reports. The workers have warned the authorities that if no agreement is reached by Monday, an unlimited strike would ensue. Negotiations are ongoing between the two parties, he added. Meanwhile, Chad's university students also embarked on a protest on Monday, Ngueto added. They are also demanding the payment of three-month worth of scholarship. The students, who have not given the duration of their strike, have however said that they will not resume classes until the sum has been paid. In Chad, scholarship students receive 23,500 CFA (about US $33) per month, Ngueto said.