Doctors of El Fasher Teaching Hospital in North Darfur have entered into an open-ended strike for the last five days, out of protest of non-payment of their monthly allowances for more than three months. A medical source reported Radio Dabanga that 53 doctors of El Fasher Teaching Hospital have entered into an open-ended strike on Thursday, while the general practitioners have refused to work on Fridays and Saturday until 2pm. The doctors decided on the strike because of the hospital’s non-payment of their monthly allowances, amounting to SDG120 ($21) for specialist interns and SDG150 ($26) for the general practitioners interns for more than three months. The doctors-in-training have notified the North Darfur State Ministry of Health about the strike. They have warned for the possible effects the strike might have on the patients. According to the source, there are 300 patients hospitalised. Daily 200 patients are visiting the hospital, besides an average of about 50 cases a day brought to the hospital in need of urgent operations, owing to traffic accidents, clashes, and bullet shot injuries. The doctors have therefore requested the Ministry of Health to solve the problem “as soon as possible,” the source added, saying that the Ministry owes them SDG280 million ($49 million) of allowances and bonuses since last August. File photo by Albert Gonzalez Farran/Unamid Related:South Darfur’s striking doctors demand Health Ministry to respond (31 January 2014)Specialists partially resume work at Nyala hospital in South Darfur (27 November 2013)