Senegal health workers go on strike

DAKAR: Health workers in Senegal went on strike yesterday to protest at charges filed against six midwives accused of negligence in a death that sparked nationwide anger.

The National Association of Midwives and several other groups in the health sector said they were joining a work stoppage ranging from one to three days.

The public health system has been “paralysed,” said Mballo Dia Thiam at an umbrella group of health-care workers called Asas. The health minister said it had “taken steps”.

The affair was sparked by the death of a nine-months-pregnant woman named Astou Sokhna at a public hospital.