MOSCOW, October 13 (RIA Novosti) - George Williams, the Secretary General of the National Health Workers Association of Liberia, said health workers in Liberia are set to go on strike Monday, Reuters has reported.
"The government of Liberia has not changed their posture. They do not want to engage us so that we can talk. Time is running out, by 12:00 midnight on Monday morning, we will be starting the go-slow action," Williams was quoted as saying by the agency.
Liberian health workers threaten to abandon hundreds of Ebola patients in treatment facilities, clinics and hospitals if the government does not meet the demands for better incentives, working conditions and protective equipment.
Williams acknowledged that the strike would undermine the efforts made in the fight against Ebola in Liberia, but expressed confidence that the public would understand the reason behind the strike.
Liberia's deputy Health Minister, Matthew Flomo, said the government did not know that health workers were planning to strike.
The Ebola epidemic in West Africa broke out in southern Guinea in February, and later spread across Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 4,000 people have died from the virus in the current outbreak, with more than 2,300 deaths registered in Liberia alone.
There is currently no officially approved cure for Ebola, however, several nations, including Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan are working on a vaccine.
