The Association of Resident Doctors—The Gambia (GARD) issued a press statement today announcing that it has escalated its sit-down strike to Phase II as threatened in their press conference on 8 March 2018. The escalation came about as its members “have been engaged in negotiations with the Office of the President, the Medical Advisory Group of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and also met the Medical and Dental Council of The Gambia over the past week” but that their “demands are still yet to be met,” the statement says.
The press release quoted from the “apology” statement issued last week by the Minister of Health, Saffie Lowe-Ceesay which the doctors contend fell short of addressing their demands because it “contains no retraction and isn’t specific to the [party] she denigrated; and that “it is insipid, half-hearted and falling short of the measure of humility expected of a serving public official.” It’s not clear whether at this point the doctors just simply want only a full-hearted apology with all “the measure of humility expected of a serving public official” that is ‘specific” to the parties “she denigrated,” or if the minister’s resignation must be a part of any acceptable resolution for them to end their sit-down strike.
In the statement, the doctors lamented that they “have been forced as a body and left with no choice but to proceed to the phase 2 of our sit-down strike.” They also gave hopes to patients and their families, and the citizens that they will in the “interim exhaust all options and pending negotiations.” The statement concluded by saying that the doctors escalated to Phase II of the sit-down strike “with utmost sadness for you are dear to us and you deserve better. You deserve the health care that people in other countries enjoy for it is your basic [Human] rights. You deserve to come to our hospitals and receive the care you need and go home happily with your families.”
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Gambia Times on Friday, Ousman Sillah, the Member of the National Assembly for Banjul North and Chairman of the National Assembly Select Committee on Health, said that his committee was directly engaged with the doctors and other stakeholders to finding a resolution to the dispute. He, however, did not give details of the talks because of the sensitivity and confidential nature of the discussions.
The impact of the strike on the patients and the severity of the disruptions of medical delivery services have not been reported by the authorities and the doctors.