#DedebitNews | March 13/2023
In this letter written by the association; they listed questions and complaints of health professionals seeking urgent solutions.
Among the listed issues, the first is the question of salary revision.
The government has been asked to increase the salaries of health professionals in a way that takes into account the current living conditions.
The association stated that the medical profession is a sad and stressful profession, but the JEG, which was implemented in 2013, did not take into account the workload of health professionals and the dignity of the profession.
It has been stated that the level of the health professionals in the guidelines is completely unacceptable and has caused great dissatisfaction among the health professionals.
The association has asked the government to take the experience of other countries and improve the salaries of health professionals as it is possible to solve the problem by basing the salary on the basis of the World Health Organization (WHO) standard.
The other issue raised by the association is the issue of housing, and they said that the actual living conditions of the country have reached such a level that the salaries of health professionals are not even enough to rent a house.
For example, while a house in Addis Ababa costs 5,000 birr and more, the net salary of a health professional who graduated with a first degree and started working starts from 4,776 birr, the association said.
Although it varies according to the area, this shows that the salary paid to the health professional is unfortunately not another basic need. Even the house rent is not enough for a room. Considering the current rent and cost of living, the association strongly requested the government to increase the housing allowance for health professionals immediately, and to provide a sustainable solution to the age-old housing problem of health professionals. .
Additionally, the association has made a request for free treatment.
“The risk of exposure to various diseases, especially infectious ones, is very high in connection with the place where the health professional works,” said the association. The health professional who is vulnerable and the owner of the profession, but not allowing the benefit of free treatment has isolated health professionals in their own office and has been seen as an act that has caused high costs and social crisis for the health professionals,” they explained.
Understanding the seriousness of the problem, the association strongly requested that the government urgently arrange a way for health professionals to benefit from free treatment without any conditions.
In the past, the association raised questions about risk, education opportunities, employment opportunities, overtime pay, lack of resources in health institutions and administrative problems.
If the the government does not answer their questions, the health professionals have the right to raise questions through any legal means, and the Ministry of Health and government institutions will take responsibility for the associated problem, they said.
