02/10/2014

Al-Mada Press/ Baghdad

Dozens of representatives of the trade unions with health professions, threatened on Monday with”a flood and massive demonstrations” in case the legislative and executive authorities rejected to achieve their demands, and they gave the Ministry of Health and Parliament notice until the “end of the month” for the implementation
of their demands, and argued that the main demand is to “increase the proportion of their allowances and to lift the freezing of the career levels”.
The leader of the health professions union Mohammed Tawfan said in an interview with (Almada Press), on the sidelines of a demonstration organized by the union this morning, in front of the Ministry of Health in the area of Bab Almuadham in the center of Baghdad “health professionals have been subjected to intended injustice by the legislative and executive branches, and they have not satisfy our demands”, he continued, “After that we lost hope of many & frequent meetings with officials of the Ministry of Health to implement our demands, we decided to organize a protest today”.
He threatened by “wide demonstrations in all the health institutions in Iraq if our demands not achieved within one week”, explaining that “Iraq will witness the great flood of health professionals at the end of this month if the procrastination to our demands continued”.
He pointed out that “The demands are the adoption of the right to associate Law and the lifting of sedation for the job grades of our staff and the launch of the fourth degree for up to third and second” he continued, “as well as increasing the proportion of risk allowances to 100% and calculating the highest educational certificate and allow our staff to obtain higher degrees”.
Tawfaan called on the Prime Minister and the Parliamentary Health Committee and the Minister of Health to “fulfill their promises to achieve our demands”, and went on, “We also call on the allocation of residential neighborhoods for our staff in all the provinces and applying the principle of justice in dispatching”.
On his part, the Secretary of the union branch in Maysan, Hassan Fadel AlSharifi said in an interview to (AlMadaa Press), “We will continue demonstrating until issuing administrative orders to implement all our demands” noting, “We are ready to give up our demands in case of the members of the House of Representatives and the three presidencies gave up for their allowances and rights”. He also accused government officials of “stealing Iraq and divide it among themselves even of the rights of doctors and health professionals”.
The demonstrators raised slogans confirming that they will not give up their rights and condemning the executive and legislative authorities like (Their salaries in millions and we suffer from sedation), also waved banners explain their demands.
Dozens of health professionals in hospitals and health centers of Al-Diwaniyah province organized in (August 20, 2013), a sit-in to demand lifting sedation on the job grades, and the enactment of health professionals law, and warned the central government of the “procrastination” of their demands and lack of equality with their peers in other ministries.
Many of the Iraqi provinces, including the capital Baghdad, witnessed during the year of 2012, and the first few months of the year 2013, several demonstrations and protest of health professionals to demand lifting sedation of their salaries and increase the risk allowances, and they threatened to organize an open sit-in in the case of failure to meet their demands.
Sedation of Job grades means stop job grading and increasing it for the employees according to salary scale which was issued by the Council of Ministers in 2008.
The unions of health professionals in many provinces, called in earlier times, to pay their financial allocations, including the infection and radiation repayment, overtime and sentry duty, like their peers in other ministries.