After more than a month of protests, employees at Rafik Hariri Governmental University Hospital have suspended their open sit-in and will resume work on Monday, February 3, 2025. The decision follows the receipt of the December 2024 salary and a partial payment of their current dues.
In a statement, the Employees' Committee expressed gratitude to their colleagues and the media for supporting their movement against what they described as "malicious policies" by the Ministry of Health. They accused the administration of prioritizing everything but the staff’s "most basic rights, represented by the full monthly salary." Despite ending the sit-in, they warned the administration against retaliatory actions, stating that "any policy of revenge through arbitrary formations and unjustified warnings will be met with rejection and protest to the point of stopping work again."
The committee called on President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam to intervene and address the hospital’s ongoing management issues. They emphasized the need for an authentic director and board of directors to restore the hospital’s status as "the hospital of the homeland and its poor people."
The strike began on December 26, 2024, with employees protesting in front of the Ministry of Public Health, demanding overdue wages and accountability in hospital administration. They accused Caretaker Health Minister Firas Abiad of failing to honor decrees that would secure their payments and condemned the administration for threatening to fire striking employees.
Workers also raised concerns about mismanagement, urging authorities to audit the hospital’s finances and implement reforms. They criticized Beirut’s parliamentarians for neglecting the institution, citing a stalled 200 billion Lebanese Pounds funding decree that, if enacted, "would have kept the hospital thriving."
While the protest has been suspended, employees vowed to continue monitoring the hospital’s financial and administrative policies to prevent further injustices. "We will persist until a fair resolution is reached," they reaffirmed.
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