Médecins Sans Frontières - WEBCLIP : Yemen, unpaid wages (ENG)

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF209792

Date taken / Date Recorded 01/09/2017 12:00 AM

Country Yemen

Commissioning section MSF-FRANCE

Photographer / videographer / producer Florian SERIEX

Copyright MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★★★ (C)

Video format h264 (Constrained Baseline) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 3m4s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 308.45 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist ITW1 Ahmed al Jouneid - head of emergency department
ITW2 : Soad Saleh Ali : Nurse
ITW3: Mohamed Omar Mutaher: Nurse
ONE YEAR WITHOUT SALARY, THE DAILY LIFE OF MEDICAL STAFF IN YEMEN

01:48 – 01:57
We see some very severe cases. Their families don’t bring them to hospital until they are very sick. When we ask them why they didn’t act sooner, they say they couldn’t afford it. The situation here has deteriorated.
01:39 – 01:47
We lack medicine. We give our patients some medicines and ask them to buy the rest, but they can’t afford it; they say “we cannot”.
01:20 – 01:29
The functioning capacity of the hospital has reduced by almost half. We lack medicines and many other supplies.
01:30 – 01:35
Al Kuwait University Hospital has around 600 employees.
01:37 – 01:43
The salaries haven’t been paid since September 2016, when the Central Bank moved to Aden.
01:44 – 01:48
About a month after the salaries stopped, things became difficult.
01:49 – 01:59
Some employees stopped coming to work and some requested unpaid leave.
02:02 – 02:16
We fought to keep people working and we promised the nurses and all the staff that the situation would be resolved, one way or another.
00:27 – 00:36
They used to pay me 20,000 Yemeni Riyals a month. The hospital administration have done their best, but nothing has been paid for nine or 10 months

00:56 – 01:02
They tell us we’ll be paid tomorrow, the day after tomorrow. They keep giving us promises but they can’t deliver.
01:04 – 01:13
When we ask for our salaries, they say the problem is with the bank. We are waiting patiently.
01:33 – 01:39
The situation has deteriorated because of the military offensive against the Yemeni people.
02:13 – 02:30
When we were still being paid, we were able to afford clothes and other essential items. We could provide food and other necessary things for our homes. We could afford the travel costs to and from work.
02:49 – 03:04
We are not making any money. My family say: “you go to work every day and we still pay for you; you’d better stay at home. We even pay for your travel costs. You’d better stay at home!”
05:21 – 05:31
Nurses used to make 20,000 to 30,000 Yemeni Riyals a month, with additional compensation for working nightshifts.
05:41 – 05:51
That was before. But since the salaries stopped being paid, nurses have continued their work as a national and humanitarian duty – as a moral commitment.
06:38 – 06:43
What they receive today is less than 10 per cent of what they got before, not more than that.
03:06 – 03:14
Not receiving salaries has a significant effect on our lives. We are suffocating. We get angry. We lack the simplest things.