Doctors treating coronavirus patients in Sierra Leone will go on strike within 24 hours after the government failed to pay promised allowances, Reuters quoted their union as saying on Wednesday.

The Sierra Leone Medical and Dental Association (SLMDA) said in a statement the strike would continue until the allowances are paid in full, without specifying how much the doctors are owed.

“That could be in five hours or five months. But we won’t settle for anything less than the full backlog of weekly payments for the last three months,” Samba Jalloh, SLMDA’s secretary general, told Reuters.

Doctors treating patients for conditions other than Covid-19 will continue to show up to work, it said.