Ebola outbreak: Liberian frontline health workers refuse to strike

Health workers in protective gear outside the Ebola treatment unit of the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia. Many workers have ignored calls to strike over poor pay and working conditions (AFP)

Many Liberian healthcare workers battling Ebola ignored calls yesterday to strike over poor pay and working conditions, and most hospitals were operating normally, officials and charity workers said.

Alphonso Weah, head of medical staff at the government’s 150-bed Island Clinic in the capital Monrovia, said workers had decided to come in after appeals from the general public.

“We have agreed, collectively as a community, to go back to work,” Mr Weah said.

But George Williams, head of the National Health Workers Association of Liberia, said the government was pressuring workers. “The President [Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf] went to various Ebola treatment units, giving them money,” he said.

A 31-year-old man was admitted to hospital in Poland for testing on whether he has Ebola, it emerged last night. The man was taken to hospital in Lodz after feeling unwell and saying he had been in contact with people from Guinea during a recent period in Germany.

Reuters