On October 3, 2024, we issued a firm warning that the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and Social Health Authority (SHA) were a sinking ship. Today, just five months later, that ship has capsized, leaving civil servants in a dire situation.
Doctors and other public servants are enduring double deductions—2.75% of their salaries to SHIF while also forfeiting their medical allowance to the Post-Retirement Medical Fund (POMF). Yet, despite these mandatory contributions, hospitals nationwide are rejecting patients under the POMF scheme due to unpaid bills, forcing civil servants to fundraise for medical care.
This crisis is unsustainable. The government has two weeks to act.
Failure to reinstate a functional and comprehensive medical insurance scheme will lead to nationwide demonstrations starting March 18, 2025. If no solution is provided within 30 days, we will escalate to a full-scale national strike.
As a union, we will not tolerate any arrangement that denies doctors and civil servants their rightful entitlements. The time for empty promises is over—we demand immediate action.
