By: Ilyasa Baa
The removal of Covid-19 allowance from the package of medical practitioners has been condemned by the Sierra Leone Medical and Dental Association (SLMDA) which is putting modalities in place to approach government on the issue.
President of SLMDA, Dr. Edries A.Tejan informed this medium in his office at the Connaught Hospital that they were not expecting that the allowances government used to give them regarding Covid-19 risk could be removed at this point in time the country is still battling with the pandemic.
He said the slashing of that risk allowance took effect past May affecting the different layers in the professional.
“We are expecting that the government would listen to us and adjust our take home as doctors serving the nation”, he said, adding that they are faced with several risks in the dispensation of their lifesaving job.
He said despite the removal of the Covid-19 allowance from their salaries, the Association has been encouraging its membership to continue their services unhindered. He said they are going to put their concerns in a single document with the help of legal practitioners which will be presented to the Ministry of Health and Sanitation for action to be taken to rectify the issue.
He noted that for the country to achieve universal health coverage by 2030, their concerns need to be looked into and settled once and for all. He lamented that with the global economic trend, junior doctors especially, are finding it difficult to make ends meet considering their salary scale compared to their counterparts in other countries.
“We decided to serve our country and not brain drains the nation like others are doing in the rush for greener pastures”, he said.
It could be recalled that SLMDA on 4th June, 2022, held its midterm Congress with a recommendation that the conditions of service of medical practitioners be adjusted to match up with the current economic trend.
The congress had brought together medical practitioners on the theme: Improving the welfare of Doctors in Sierra Leone: the way forward in rebranding the healthcare system. There was a symposium on: Achieving Universal Health Coverage by 2030 and a scientific session which delved into the areas of the control on cervical cancer, Stop the Bleed in Rural Sierra Leone as well as Child Health and Immunization.
