Burundi jails doctors who quit their jobs over low pay
Doctors in Burundi are being arrested after quitting their jobs over low salaries.
At least five have been imprisoned by the country’s intelligence service since late 2024, while others say they are receiving threats.
The doctors had demanded a fourfold salary increase, as many were earning just $170 a month.
They subsequently resigned from their private clinic jobs after government failed to heed their calls but continued working in public hospitals.
Following this, security forces began detaining them, accusing them of threatening national security.
A medical union says they were taken without arrest warrants and are being held in intelligence service cells.
A security official told Agence France-Presse that some patients may have died because the doctors left their jobs. The government has not officially commented, but a senior health ministry official confirmed the arrests.
Doctors now warn that if nothing changes, more could stop working. One doctor said the government should not be shocked if medical workers leave Burundi for better-paying jobs elsewhere.
The country has faced a shortage of doctors for years. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, more than 130 doctors left due to low salaries.
