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Protesters demand the departure of the director of the CHU
Sit-in protest in front of the Batna University Hospital Center
Dozens of citizens traveled to Batna where they organized a sit-in in front of the city’s university hospital. The demonstrators brandished signs and banners through which they demanded the departure of the health director and the opening of an investigation following the death of a young person in circumstances described as enigmatic by the protesters. The demonstrators let their anger explode in front of the health structure, accusing the health director of having lied about the state of health of the young person who died at the Batna University Hospital. According to their statements, the young person in question was the victim of a traffic accident between Batna and Barika. The accident victim was admitted to Barika hospital before being transferred to the Batna university hospital center. Taking turns speaking in front of journalists and addressing Internet users present on the scene, the demonstrators did not fail to heavily accuse the first health official of the wilaya of Batna. “The health director presented us with images (radio-scanner), while indicating that there was nothing serious about the patient and that according to him, there was no reason to worry. The x-rays that the health director presented to us did not belong to the young accident victim. Otherwise how can we explain that the x-rays do not indicate serious things and on the other hand, the young person died.” We have taken up here the statements of the demonstrators who added that they were tired of being taken for idiots. Several other demonstrators took the floor to explain the evil that is eroding health in the region. Among the people who spoke was a man who indicated that he is the father of three young children and that his wife had not been well taken care of in the hospital services. “I don’t know which door I should knock on, when I already see my wife moving away from me without her being taken care of by the white coats.” The demonstrators explained at length that it is not only health in the region that is “sick”, but the majority of sectors, apart from the security services, they said. “We are calling on the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune and the country’s high authorities to intervene, because citizens are suffering enormously in this region,” they insisted. To find out more about this, we contacted the director of Barika hospital. The latter explained to us that the hospital services took care of the young accident victim and that he was transferred to the Batna hospital center due to the seriousness of his state of health. At the secretariat of the director of the CHU, we were told that the first person in charge of the structure of the CHU is not available and is in a meeting with the members of the inspection which was dispatched from the Ministry of Health for the reasons mentioned above. We also tried for two days to contact the Health Directorate of the wilaya of Batna but in vain. The health department has been unreachable by telephone for more than ten years and did not even respond to local domestic calls, namely the four digits of the wilaya. There are two public buildings which never answer telephone calls, and have done so for several years, namely the health department and the Communal People’s Assembly (APC), it was explained to us. As a reminder, this demonstration is the second of its kind during this month after the one where the citizens of the wilaya of Oum El Bouaghi were also forced to take to the streets for almost the same reasons mentioned by the inhabitants of these two wilayas, namely the poor care of citizens in the health sector. Recently installed, the new Minister of Health, Professor Mohamed Seddik Aït Messaoudène was forced to travel in person to the wilaya of Oum El Bouaghi and managed to calm the overheated minds of citizens following the deaths of several children victims of the bites of a rabid dog. We contacted the communications department of the Ministry of Health in order to find out the decisions taken by the minister regarding the grievances of the citizens of the wilaya of Oum El Bouaghi and Batna but without result. “When I have information on this subject, I will not fail to inform you,” he replied.
Moncef Redha