(Newswire.net — October 8, 2014) — The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation first reported the strike Wednesday. “The situation is very embarrassing,” country’s health ministry spokesperson Sidie Yahya Tunis said, while speaking to The Associated Press, promising to provide more information later on Wednesday.
Deputy health minister Madina Rahman said in a radio broadcast that the strike had been “resolved,” though organizers could not immediately be reached to confirm it was over.
“The dispute centered on a one-week backlog for hazard pay that had been deposited in the bank but was not given to burial teams on time.” Rahman said. “The health ministry is going to investigate the delay in the health workers not receiving their money,” added Rahman.
The burial teams make up a total of 600 workers organized in groups of 12, AP reported.
The government was already facing criticism this week because it had withheld, for over a month, a shipping container filled with medical gear and mattresses.
More than 3,400 people have died of Ebola since the outbreak was first reported in March, but officials say that this number could be greater because family members often don’t report a death of loved ones to heath workers, but instead organize the burial themselves.
Meanwhile, in Spain, officials said a second nursing assistant has been placed under observation for Ebola in a Madrid hospital where a colleague became infected while treating two Spanish missionaries that had died from Ebola.
The EU health officials are searching for improper conduct in the matter of handling infected patients in the Spanish hospital, since it is not yet clear how the nurse was infected.
Spanish health authorities closely monitor some 50 people who came into contact with infected nurse. However, they have faced accusations of not following protocol and poorly preparing health care workers for dealing with Ebola.
Meanwhile, Connecticut’s governor declared a precautionary public health emergency. The order, signed by Gov. Dannel Malloy, allows public health officials to coordinate a targeted quarantine in case Ebola arrives in the state.
“We are taking this action today to ensure that we are prepared in advance to deal with any identified cases in which someone has been exposed to the virus or, worst case, infected,” Malloy said in a statement.