Algerian hospitals crippled by medical assistants’ strike

2008-03-25

Algerian medical assistants held a three-day strike to protest new civil service laws governing their profession and pay.

By Mohand Ouali for Magharebia in Algiers – 25/03/08

[Getty Images] Algerian medical assistants began a three-day strike on Sunday (March 16th) to protest new laws governing their profession.

Medical workers in Algeria launched a union-mandated three-day strike on March 16th to protest a new civil service law governing their profession and compensation. The strike went ahead despite an order issued the same day by the administrative chamber of the Court of Algiers to block the action.

Lounes Ghashi, Secretary-General of the Algerian Medical Assistants’ Union (SAP), said the court ruling "was not communicated to the head office of the union". An earlier strike planned for February 17th was also blocked by the courts.

The strike movement resonated with a large section of the medical profession, and hospital services were disrupted despite assurances that a minimum level of service would be guaranteed.

An estimated 95% of medical assistants participated in the action, though health ministry figures claimed just 5.67%.

Bashir Kerzi is the SAP representative at the Maillot hospital in the Algiers district of Bab El Oued. According to Kerzi, 85% of nurses, anaesthetists and operating room nurses took part in the strike, but basic services ran as normal in all operating suites.

"Patients are our main concern," he said, "but in order for us to look after them, the problems affecting our profession need to be resolved."

Medical assistants are calling for a set of regulations appropriate to their profession. They want to be paid in accordance with their level of education and to be offered additional job training to remain competitive in their field, Kerzi told Magharebia.

A government committee examined existing plans for the healthcare sector last month. The government’s action programme is aimed at ensuring access for all citizens to essential preventive care and treatment based on forecasts that the population will rise to 44.8 million by 2025. According to the programme, in order to ensure a ratio of one medical assistant to every 200 citizens, 224,248 medical assistants will be needed.

The union says that there are currently 20 patients being cared for by each nurse, while regulations state that the ratio should be 4:1.

"The strikes will continue until are demands are met," said 20-year nursing veteran Ahmed Bashiri.

51-year-old Mustapha Belkhalfa is a medical assistant in a gastroenterology department. He says that his monthly income, which is just over 24,000 dinars, is not enough for him to support his wife and two children: "The authorities need to enter into talks with our union to find the best solutions to our problems."

Akila Guerrouche, President of the Algerian National Midwives' Union warned in a press conference early this month that the number of young midwives planning to take over from their older colleagues is dwindling, particularly in disadvantaged areas. She blamed the decline on a "lack of training adapted to developments in the sector [and] the absence of a specific body of regulations which would aid the creation of a code of ethics and a governing body for the profession."

Guerrouche added that a 2006 law renders the 9,500 practicing midwives liable to prosecution in the event that a baby or its mother dies, or if complications occur. One in every two midwives, she claims, ends up being prosecuted, a fact she said could change if a law governing the profession of midwifery is approved.