This Tuesday, December 8, is declared a day of anger by doctors in Tunisia. Only minimum services should be provided at the country’s public hospitals. The Danish Medicines Agency’s advice calls for a profound reform of the currently harmful health system.
as reported from Tunis, Michel Picard
The accidental death last week, in the western part of the country, of a young doctor who fell into an elevator shaft was the trigger for a movement that has spread across the country. Nurses, senior doctors, demand the immediate establishment of a public hospital rescue agency, a significant increase in the budget for the Ministry of Health and a ruthless fight against maladministration and corruption in the area.
Doctors want strong measures
The minister did carry out a series of dismissals of hospital officials following Jendouba’s tragedy. But this is insufficient according to the doctors, whose work tools continue to deteriorate. The emphasis on the private sector, the lack of public investment and impunity from bad managers have driven hospitals to a continued decline.
The budget for 2021, including health costs, is being discussed in Parliament and practitioners are asking for more than the planned 5% increase.
Politicians have not refrained from praising the quality of professionals in the sector since the pandemic came in the spring, but their working conditions have not improved since the beginning of the crisis. Clichés of dilapidated emergency services, aging medical equipment or broken ambulances appear regularly in the country’s media.
Many paramedics, laboratories and pharmacists have planned to join the movement, in the capital or in the regions, to create an electric shock to save the public hospital.
► See also: Tunisia: complaints by doctors after the death of a young doctor
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