Sierra Leone doctors have reportedly issued a 21-day strike notice demanding that a return to their April 2022 salary and provision of 45 litres of fuel per week, as effective today, Thursday 8 July 2022.

BBC’s Umaru Fofana breaks the news on his social media page.

“Doctors in Sierra Leone have issued what is effectively a 21-day strike notice over two key demands they say are “nonnegotiable”. They say they want a return to their salary as at April 2022 failing which they will stop work at the end of July. Between 20% and 40% of the pay of health workers was said to have been lost after government stopped their Covid19-era entitlements including allowances and tax exemptions.

“They say the cut was carried out “with no prior notice whatsoever leaving us out of pocket at a time when the cost of living crisis warrants a pay rise”, says the doctors’ president, Dr Edris Tijan.

“They are also asking for the provision of 45 liters of fuel per week which they say all public workers who are Grade 9 and above. The ministries of finance and health say the allowances were cut and the taxes reimposed after the Covid19 response was redefined,” Fofana reports.