By: Barclay Karnley
MONROVIA: The Assembly of Liberian Health Professionals has given a 10-day ultimatum to the Government of Liberia (GOL), to include the Health Sector pay grade and reclassification policy in the 2025 National Budget or its members would stage a nationwide strike action.
The Assembly of Liberian Health Professionals, has termed the GOL, through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning’s US$50 ‘top up’ for health workers as provocative and a complete breach of the Health Sector Pay Grade and Salary Reclassification Policy.
The group threatened 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 and Liberian Society of Medical Imaging Technologies.
Other Health organizations include; Liberia Association of Operating Room Technicians, Liberia Association of Environmental Professionals, Liberia Association of Medical Laboratory Technologists and Liberia Medical and Dental Association.
It can be recalled that the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, following the submission of the Draft 2025 National Budget to the Legislature, said within the current budget, 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 to the government’s latest revelation at a well-attended press briefing, the listed institutions heads, the chairperson of the group and President of Liberia National Physician Assistance Association, Theophilus Tamba Fayiah, said that it is very saddening that the government of Liberia will ignore the Health Sector Pay Grade and Salary Reclassification Policy and institute another policy to top-up the salaries of health workers.
He disclosed that the Policy was originally scheduled to commence in the 2024 National Budget, but given the delay in the implementation, they are demanding 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 and Development Planning US$50 top-ups as a provocation to health workers of the Country.
“This is a provocation to address equity and salary disparities in the heath sector. People are already saying that we are doing the same work but not earning the same money, then the government is doing this. The government signed onto this document and so, ignoring it and bringing flat-rate is evil,’’ he stated.
According to him, they work with the consultant recently provided by the government of Liberia and they validated the policy and the government signed to uphold the policy, and some of the issues addressed include the salary disparities because current pay structure creates inequalities among healthcare workers of various professional categories, despite the shared goal of delivering quality services.
He further indicated that following the adjustment, they respectfully requested that the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the various institutions for the implementation of the policy which was launched by the government 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 demands. We strongly urge you to take this matter seriously and engage with us to avert a disruption of healthcare services across the nation. We remain committed to advancing the health sector and the welfare of healthcare workers, and we hope that the government share this commitment,’’ he concluded.
