Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kinshasa (Agenzia Fides)- “You have the legitimate right to demand a worthy and adequate salary for the valid service you render the sick” Cardinal Frédéric Etsou, Archbishop of Kinshasa, capital of Democratic Congo, said in a letter addressed to the country’s hospital doctors on strike for over a month demanding better pay.
Although the Cardinal sympathises with the strikers’ requests he urges them to remember the Hippocratic Oath taken by gradates on entering the profession: “As your spiritual father I ask you to resume your hospital service immediately”.
In the message Cardinal Etsou promises he will meet with national authorities and urge them to act responsibly to solve the impasse. “Our political leaders are not doing their duty, they are not honouring commitments taken in your regard” the Archbishop of Kinshasa said in his letter to the doctors on strike.
The strike started more than a month ago in Kinshasa and in the past week it has spread to other cities. Demands include proper contracts for 333 new doctors who work in state hospitals in Kinshasa but are still unpaid. The doctor’s trade union calls for higher wages and back pay, for some who have not been paid for 14 months. In Congo according to specialisation and years of service a doctor’s monthly salary varies between 18,000 and 25,000 Congo Francs (42 to 59 dollars). The trade union leaders call for an immediate solution in order to stop doctors from leaving the country for better paid jobs elsewhere especially in South Africa, Lesotho and Botswana.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing the delicate question of presidential elections at the end of this month. The vote should mark the end of a transition period started by a peace agreement signed in 2000. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 12/6/2006 righe 33 parole 376)
