The Assembly of Liberian Health Professionals has termed the Government of Liberia’s USD$50 top-up in salaries of health workers as provocative and a complete breach of the Health Sector Pay Grade and Salary Reclassification Policy, threatening a nation-wide strike action beginning December 10, 2024.
The Assembly of Liberian Health Professionals include Pharmaceutical Association of Liberia, Liberia Nurse Association, Liberia National Physician Assistance Association, Liberia Midwives Association, Liberia Association of Nurse Anesthetist, Liberian Society of Medical Imaging Technologies, Liberia Association of Operating Room Technicians, Liberia Association of Environmental Professionals, Liberia Association of Medical Laboratory Technologists, and Liberia Medical and Dental Association.
Finance and Development Planning Minister, Augustine K. Ngafuan, following the submission of the Draft 2025 National Budget to the Legislature, said nurses, midwives and physician assistance will receive the amount of US$50 top-ups per month while other health workers will receive US$ 25-40 based on their level.
But responding the announcement in a press conference, the Chairperson of the group and President of Liberia National Physician Assistance Association Theophilus Tamba Fayiah said that it’s very saddened that the Government of Liberia will ignore the Health Sector Pay Grade and Salary Reclassification Policy and institute another policy to top-up the salary of health workers.
He said the policy was originally scheduled to commence in the 2024 National Budget, but given the delay in the implementation, they urged the government to include the policy in the 2025 National Budget to ensure its timely execution.
In the absence of the Reclassification Policy, we see the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Finance US$50 top-ups as a provocation. This is a provocation to address equity and salary disparities in the health sector. People are already saying that we are doing the same work but not earning the same money then the government does this. The government signed onto this document, and so ignoring it and bringing flat-rate is evil,’’ he said.
According to him, they recently validated the policy and the government signed to uphold it and address some of the issues including the salary disparities, as current pay structure creates inequalities among healthcare workers of various professional categories, despite the shared goal of delivering quality service.
He said following the adjustment, they respectfully requested that the government sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the various institutions for the implementation of the policy which was launched and adopted. ‘’If no concrete action is taken within the timeline, we the health workers will commence a nationwide strike. This collective action will involve the cessation of all services until the government demonstrates a commitment to addressing our demand,” the health practitioners said. They urged that the government take the matter seriously and engage with them to avert a disruption of healthcare services across the nation.
By Prince Saah
