Tunisia: Surgeon plunges to death down elevator shaft
Protest in front of state headquarters held about deterioration of health services
Abu Dhabi: Tunisian Health Minister, Faouzi Mahdi announced Saturday dismissals in the public health sector, in connection with the death of a young doctor in a broken elevator.
According to the German news agency, Tunisia was shaken, Friday, on the news of the tragedy in the Jendouba Hospital in the northwest of the country when young surgeon, Badreddine Aloui, plunged to death on Thursday down an elevator shaft after the lift doors opened but with no elevator in place.
The incident sparked outrage in the Tunisian street due to negligence, as it came after a series of fatal accidents over recent years due to negligence.
The Minister of Health decided to dismiss the director general of public health sector and the director general of the Center for Technical Studies, Biological and Hospital Maintenance.
Minister Mahdi also sacked the head of the hospital’s medical committee and the acting director of the hospital, the official in charge of running the regional health department in Jendouba, and suspended the official in charge of maintenance pending the results of the administrative and criminal investigation.
Minister Mahdi said that he assigned a team headed by the Dean of the Director of Maintenance and Technical Studies at the Military Hospital to inspect safety procedures in public hospitals.
Angry citizens in Jendouba protested in front of the state headquarters Saturday about the deterioration of health services and social conditions, and trade union and professional organisations for the health sector decided to completely stop health services on December 8.
The dilapidated public health sector in Tunisia has turned into a real nightmare for the low-income people due to the lack of services and equipment and shortage in specialist doctors, in light of the migration of large numbers of them abroad.