Hospital strike forces hundreds of patients to go home

A strike by doctors, nurses and hospital technicians demanding the payment of salary arrears paralysed government hospitals in Guinea-Bissau for three days this week, forcing hundreds of patients to go home or seek treatment in private clinics if they could afford it. The strike was called by the two main trade unions in the health sector to protest at the government's failure to pay five months of salary arrears and special bonuses and to demand better food for patients. The stoppage began on Tuesday, but was called off on Thursday after the government agreed to pay part of the pay arrears owed and improve the quality of hospital food. Agostinho Ca, the director of the main Simao Mendes hospital in the capital Bissau, had earlier appealed to his staff to return to work, saying they were causing hundreds of people to suffer. During the strike, medical staff at the hospital provided emergency services only, forcing dozens of patients to leave their beds and go home. Hundreds of others who turn up there every day for outpatient treatment have been turned away. The cash-strapped government of this former Portuguese colony owes money to virtually all its employees. The transitional government led by Henrique Rosa, which came to power following a bloodless coup in September, is gradually resuming the payment of civil servants teachers and health staff. Some public employees are owed more than a year of unpaid wages.