A large number of health sector workers in western Libya gathered, on Monday, in front of the headquarters of the interim “National Unity” government in Tripoli to demand their “rights,” in conjunction with a general strike by teachers, in an escalation of the factional protests taking place in the country and putting the government before increasing demands.
In front of the government headquarters on Al-Sikka Road in the capital, Tripoli, hundreds of medical staff, dentists, and health sector workers gathered and chanted, demanding that the authorities in Tripoli implement nine demands, including increasing salaries.
This rally was prompted by the incident of an attack by security personnel on doctors during a peaceful stand in front of the government headquarters, on Sunday evening, which aroused broad segments of Libyans, amid demands for an investigation into the incident.
Health sector workers said that their protest movement comes “as a result of years of suffering and living pressures, in light of rising prices, accumulation of debt, and deteriorating conditions in the health sector,” stressing that their demands aim to improve working conditions and ensure a decent life for workers.
The workers explained in a statement carried by the “Union of the Health Sector Movement in Libya” on Monday that their movement does not represent “a passing moment of anger, but rather comes after years of patience” in the face of conditions they described as “difficult,” pointing at the same time to the continued presence of professional cadres and competencies keen to fulfill their mission and serve the citizens.
They stressed that their demands “are not related to personal gain, but rather to improving the conditions of workers in the health sector, and providing an appropriate work environment that enables them to perform their duties, in addition to working to reform the health system and raise the level of services provided to the Libyan citizen.”
While the workers rejected attempts to reduce or cast doubt on their demands, they affirmed their commitment to continuing the movement and working to develop the health sector as one of the basic sectors that directly affects the lives of citizens.
The demands of the health sector in Libya include increasing salaries, activating bonuses and benefits, providing health and medical insurance, expanding and organizing the job structure, and addressing the shortage in cadres, in addition to providing medicines, medical supplies and devices, and providing protection for workers while performing their duty, in addition to protecting national competencies and addressing the reasons for their migration to the private sector or outside the country. They also called for the involvement of unions and professional bodies in decisions affecting workers and the sector.
The General Syndicate of Dentists in Libya organized a demonstration on Monday, and issued a call to all health sector cadres to rally in what it described as “the largest protest in the history of the health sector,” to demand “legitimate and just rights” for workers in that sector.
The “Union of the Health Sector Movement in Libya” expressed its anger and rejection that “a number of medical and paramedical staff and administrators in Libya were attacked by the force charged with protecting the government headquarters, on Sunday, while they were organizing a peaceful protest in front of the Prime Minister’s headquarters on Al-Sikka Road in the capital, Tripoli.”
Member of the Supreme Council of State, Abu al-Qasim Qazit, referred to the incident and published a picture of a security personnel holding the lapels of a doctor during the protest. He said sarcastically: “The civil state police, after attacking university professors, are here today strangling doctors!”
The union and health authorities called on the Libyan Public Prosecutor to open an “immediate and urgent investigation” into the attack, and hold all those involved accountable, with the need to provide full protection to health personnel.
Libyan academic Faraj Dardour said: “When ignorance hits the joints of the state, the value of knowledge declines, and the doctor and teacher are humiliated, while those involved in armed formations take the lead,” stressing that “this incompetent differentiation prevents the country from improving its condition, and increases the depletion of its resources day after day.”
Dardour spoke, on his Facebook account, about the large gap in the wage structure, asking: “How is it possible for a doctor who spent many years to acquire difficult sciences to receive a salary that does not exceed two thousand dinars, while those at the forefront of the weapons scene enjoy many times this salary?!” “It is an environment that rewards inability and punishes competence.”
After pressure, the “unity” government agreed to increase the salaries of members of the Petroleum Facilities Guard, which escalated criticism from broad sectors among teachers and all those affiliated with the health sector in Libya. Airport and civil aviation employees at Misrata Airport also entered the line of factional demands, and called for “the settlement of their financial and administrative situations.”
This comes as the teachers’ movement in Libya adheres to the general strike in all schools, despite the Minister of Education, Dr. Muhammad Al-Qaryou, directing a letter on Sunday to the municipal education monitors regarding the immediate start of opening schools and receiving students in order to preserve their right to education.
In an attempt to contain the teachers’ anger, Al-Qaryo held a meeting, on Monday morning, with the Board of Directors of the General Health Insurance Fund, to discuss a joint vision that defines the mechanisms for implementing the health insurance program designated for educational and administrative staff in the sector.
The meeting witnessed a discussion of ways and mechanisms to begin compiling and updating the required data and providing it to the Information and Documentation Center, in preparation for developing the approved formula for granting health insurance to all workers in the sector.
On Sunday evening, the Minister of Health in the “Unity” government, Muhammad Al-Ghouj, discussed with representatives of medical unions, allied medical professions, medical laboratories, and directors of health services and hospitals, the demands of health sector workers.
Al-Ghouj indicated in a statement by the Ministry that the workers’ demands to improve their conditions and increase their entitlements are legitimate, and that work is underway to address them in accordance with the legal frameworks and available capabilities.
A proposal launched by a prominent Egyptian doctor to explore the possibility of using the organs of those sentenced to death to save patients in need of transplants was met with widespread rejection and criticism.
The proposal was presented by Dr. Hossam Mowafy, professor of critical care medicine at Cairo University, during television statements in which he raised questions about whether the law or Sharia allows the use of organs from those sentenced to death, whether before the execution of the sentence or after death, “in a way that could contribute to saving the lives of patients in need of transplanting vital organs, including the kidneys, heart, corneas, and parts of the liver,” as he put it.
Although he stressed that his proposal “does not represent a direct call to urgently implement the idea, but rather comes within the framework of the search for a clear position from the competent authorities,” disapproving reactions continued.
Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar Gomaa, former Minister of Endowments and member of the Islamic Research Academy at Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, said: “The person sentenced to death will have received the punishment approved by Sharia and the law, and then his life will end and his matter will return to God. If He wills, He will pardon His grace, and if He wills, He will be called to account with His justice.”
He added in a post on his Facebook page: “The human body is inviolable and honored even after his death, by burying it and covering his body, without violating it or harming his body,” pointing out that “it is not permissible according to Islamic law to take an organ from a person, whether during his life or after his death, unless he donated it of his own free will and willingly.”
He stressed the need for “this donation to be legally documented to prevent any suspicion of abuse, as no person, not even the heirs of the deceased together, has the right to donate any of his organs on his behalf.”
For his part, the Assistant Secretary-General of the Egyptian Medical Syndicate, Dr. Khaled Amin, rejected the proposal based on a legal text requiring that the donation be issued by “free will free from the defects of consent.”
He added in a post on Facebook: “It is not legally permissible to transfer organs from incompetent people due to the absence of free will in their condition, and any consent other than their consent is not taken into account,” and this applies to those sentenced to death.
Dr. Mustafa Al-Saadawi, a professor of criminal law, considered the treatment of the organs of those facing the death penalty to be equivalent to “continuing to punish them as if the death penalty alone is not enough, so we make their bodies subject to another punishment, which contradicts the spirit of the law and the philosophy of punishment, which inflicts punishment on the convicted person once, not twice.”
He added in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat: “The death sentence does not, in and of itself, include the convict giving up his organs, nor does it transfer ownership of his body to the state. The punishment here has a specific scope, which is taking his life in implementation of a final judicial ruling. As for the removal of his body organs, it is another issue that requires an independent legal basis and controls consistent with the constitution.”
