A strike took place and roads have been cut since yesterday, September 28, in El Hamma in Gabès. According to Mohsen Thlibi, one of the leaders of this strike and member of the association “Invest in El Hamma”, “there is great anger on the side of the inhabitants who feel marginalized”.
One of the investors in the region, according to Habib Khedher, who calls himself Mark Keller (his Tunisian name is Riadh Khedher), as well as “European Cancer Centers” for which he works, talks about blocking at the Ministry of Health for the implementation of this offshore hospital. The deputy Habib Khedher asked the Jomaa government to react to the accusations of the ECC, adding that he was in the genesis of the project in his region.
Confusion of the inhabitants around the offshore project
Since this morning, Monday, September 29, the El Hamma delegation, located 30 km from Gabès, has been blocked and paralyzed by citizens of civil society who denounce “a refusal” of the government of this project, reports Mr. Thlibi.
“The inhabitants of El Hamma launched a general strike encouraged by the civil society of the delegation as a sign of protest in the face of blocking the project following the refusal of the Ministry of Health. A demonstration was launched and El Hamma was blocked. Protesters expressed their dissatisfaction with the marginalization of the Gabès region and the south of the country, “said Radio Oasis FM.
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Post by Yas Sine.
Origin of the dispute
An exchange of accusations between European Cancer Centers (ECC) and the Tunisian Ministry of Health has taken place recently on this subject. ECC talks about blocking at the level of the Ministry of Health, that of the Jomaa government.
In a statement dating from September 19, the Ministry of Health specifies that “the public sector must remain the benchmark while working for a harmonious development of the public and private health sectors, which also remains a constant priority of the strategy with a view to guaranteeing universal access to quality health services thus realizing health democracy”.
The project of a hospital specializing in oncology in El Hamma in the governorate of Gabès is one of the “major projects”, “said Sami Ben Kraiem on Monday, September 29, on Monday, September 29, of the Presidency of the Government Press Bureau. Indeed, the dispute would consist between the classification of this offshore private hospital as a so -called “normal” or “major project” project.
“As stipulated in the press release from the Government Presidency dated August 22, 2014, the Cancerople project is one of the major projects studied by the Higher Commission of major projects and, once again, I confirm that this project is still at the study stage and that no refusal has been notified so far,” said Sami Ben Kraiem.
According to the presidency of the government, it is not a refusal of the project, still classified “major project” and currently under study.
Opinion “citizen” of a doctor about this canceropole
For Doctor Samir Abdelmoumen, “any technological development of the health system can only be public and the private will come later, just for educational and academic considerations. Public health is a strategic field like national security and it is not foreign background that will show us the way to good medicine and that which best meets the needs and means of its country, it is an offshore project intended for foreigners and not essentially for Tunisians. »»
“They need at least 300 carcinologists to make it start what will empty our hospitals from our skills looking for easy gains and new carcinologists who will be on the ground for the next 10 years. (…) These European donors, if they really like Tunisia and its people, why they do not invest in 4 or 5 poles of public care or With “Cath Labs”, interventional radio for the vascular embolizations of patients who bleed, surgical neuro, transplants and gynecologist and Neo Nat with private Tunisian partners and the State through the social funds under the control of the Ministry of Health and Faculty Councils … It will be a winning winning partnership, but not they come to prick our gray matters that blood and sweating on generations ”.
