Full Breakdown
A Mother’s Labour on the Eve of a Health-Worker Strike Highlights Senegal’s Strained Hospitals
By Drooid · · How we work
Labour on the Eve of a Strike
Twenty-four hours before a planned walk-out by health workers, Awa Diba went into labour in Dakar. She shared a ward with four other women, endured a 24-hour delivery, and described “a lot of shouting” and intermittent electricity. The strike, scheduled for September 16, was set to limit services to emergency care only. Diba, a former trainee nurse now mother of a healthy daughter, said the experience left her convinced that “the system itself is unwell.”
Systemic Strains and Union Demands
At the end of 2024, the National Medical Council reported 5,236 registered doctors, of whom 4,407 worked in the public sector. SAMES is calling for increased recruitment, better career and pension conditions, and greater investment in hospitals and equipment, especially outside Dakar. Union secretary-general Dr Diabel Drame said, “We waited, we hoped and we followed up,” adding that no “plausible response” had been given.
Economic Pressures and Funding Gaps
Senegal’s economy grew 6.7 % in 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), yet public-sector debt rose to 132 % of GDP at the end of 2024. A government audit after President Bassirou Diomaye Faye took office revised central-government debt from 74.4 % to 111 % of GDP for 2023, uncovering previously undisclosed liabilities. Cuts to United States aid have also reduced programmes for HIV, malaria and reproductive health, further straining the public-health budget.
Verbatim Quotes
- “There is a lot of shouting,” — Awa Diba
- “We waited, we hoped and we followed up,” — Dr Diabel Drame, union secretary-general
- “When they enter, they think: ‘I will never come out. I won’t leave here alive. I’m going to die.’” — Hospitals
These accounts illustrate how a single mother’s ordeal has become a lens for broader challenges confronting Senegal’s health system.