Phebe Hospital, near Gbarnga in Bong County, has been thrown into a deepening crisis after workers, who became aggrieved announced a full shutdown of services.
The workers also ignored repeated appeals from Bong County Senator Prince Kermue Moye, and other stakeholders to call-off their strike. The strike action has left patients stranded, with emergency services, surgeries, and other critical medical care severely disrupted.
Families seeking treatments for loved ones have been forced to endure uncertainty as healthcare workers remained off their jobs, raising fears over the humanitarian consequences of the standoff. The president of the Aggrieved Workers Union, Moses D.N. Davis, declared that employees would not return to work until President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, or Vice President Jeremiah Kpan Koung, “personally intervenes to resolve the crisis.”
Davis said, workers have lost confidence in previous mediation efforts, which the Lutheran, Methodist, and Episcopal churches have jointly overseen, as well as representatives of the government.
Davis: “Every attempt to settle the dispute has failed to address the workers’ concerns. Therefore, the Union has demanded the immediate dismissal of the medical director, Dr. Minnie Sankawulo-Ricks, Acting Human Resource Officer, Peter Gbelarwo, and Acting Administrator, Jonathan Pewu.”
The trio are accused of contributing to the “prolonged conflicts at the facility.”
He further disclosed that the workers have acted in collaboration with the National Health Workers Union, and remained so to sustain the shutdown “until our demands are fully addressed.” The Union also rejected the recommendations of a special committee established by the hospital’s church authorities, insisting that its findings failed to resolve the root causes of the dispute.
Meanwhile, the Liberia National Police has tightened security around the hospital following the unrest.
Davis confirmed the arrests of Peter Yallah, and hospital driver, James Sumo, although police have not publicly disclosed the charges against the pair.
Though security officers have remained deployed at the facility, workers had continued their strike action up to press time late last night.
