Workers at the dialysis center in El Fasher town, Sudan’s North Darfur State, have threatened to go on strike over “poor living conditions.”
On Wednesday, nurses at the center downed their tools due to non-payment of wages and incentives for nearly six months.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Saturday, several workers complained about their poor living conditions due to non-payment of salaries for more than six months since the outbreak of the war, threatening to also go on strike.
Some complaining workers say they travel long distances to go to work amid insecurity in some residential areas of El Fasher town, especially areas east of El Fasher town where there is a heavy deployment of forces.
Malak Muhammad Issa, a worker who lives in Riyadh North neighborhood, said all dialysis center staff are facing harsh living conditions and do not have bus fares to go to work.
“We don’t have bus fares, we don’t have food because we have gone unpaid for six months now,” she stressed.
Hawa Mukhtar, another worker who stays in Imtidad El Tijaniya neighborhood, said:” I started working at the center since its opening, but this war has exacerbated our conditions and salaries stopped. Now we come to the center on foot for the sake of the kidney patients.”
She called on the government and well-wishers to intervene by supporting the dialysis center and its staff.
Hajja Osman, another worker who lives in the Al-Tadamon neighborhood, one of the areas where the Rapid Support Forces are stationed, said: “I suffer from difficulty in reaching the center due to the deployment of the forces, but we try to go to work for the sake of the kidney patients.”
The dialysis center in El Fasher was opened in December 2019.
Sudan’s health sector has been in shambles since the conflict erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in mid-April.
UN estimates show more than 5.6 million people have been displaced within and outside Sudan.