The Head of the Libyan General Medical Council (LGMC), Mohamed Al-Ghouj, said that they contacted the concerned authorities last Thursday to hold the meeting in which it was decided to approve the proposal to increase health salaries, “but the Minister of Health did not respond to us, and he told us that the meeting was postponed. He confirmed his adoption to us, Thursday.”
In press statements Al-Ghouj added, “it seems that Ramadan Abu Jnah was pressured by Prime Minister Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba. It is clear that Al-Dbaiba wants to announce the agreement himself to take momentum and lead, or that he has a complex of medical and auxiliary medical elements. He said that all the data confirm that there is someone who does not want this to happen, and we as a union will present goodwill for another week.”
Al-Ghouj continued, saying “the strike did nothing, but rather reflected on the citizen, who suffered more, and the private sector benefited greatly. If the proposal is not approved, we, as a medical cadre in all Libya, will announce that we will not elect Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba in the December 24th elections.”
Last week, Al-Ghouj said that the Cabinet of the Government of National Unity (GNU), agreed to adopt a proposal submitted by LGMC to increase the salaries of all health sector workers.
Last month, Al-Ghouj announced that Libyan doctors will continue their open sit-in. He said that the Libyan doctors are upset that the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity (GNU) ignored their demands.
In a press statement to the Fawasel platform, Al-Ghouj stated that the Prime Minister continues to ignore the doctors’ demands, and it is the citizen who pays the price.
He added that the government increased the salaries of some sectors and ignored the health sector, which has more than 300,000 employees. The Head of LGMC stated that there are doctors and monitoring teams who have not received their salaries since 2019.
Earlier in November, Al-Ghouj said that medical staff in various health centres and hospitals had begun a general strike across the country. He stressed that the strike would continue until their demands were met.
Al-Ghouj explained in press statements that the strike will exclude emergency department workers and urgent operations.
“The basic requirement is to raise the salaries of doctors, medical assistants, and workers in the health sector, as stated in our previous demands, which continued for several years without a response from the authorities,” he explained.
He affirmed that he and a number of LGMC members contacted the Prime Minister, Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba, to reach a solution, “but the meeting ended with only more promises to fulfil the doctors’ demands.”
He also pointed out that some Libyan hospitals “have been suffering from a cut in doctors’ salaries for four or five years.”
Al-Ghouj added that, “it is not only about our salaries, but also about the of services in the healthcare institution that continues to suffer from multiple crises.”
He pointed out that among their demands is the demand to recognise all medical staff who passed away from treating COVID-19 patients as “martyrs of duty.”