Tunisian doctors strike as health system nears breaking point

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Reuters
Today 18:14

A nationwide strike by young doctors in Tunisia has intensified broader social unrest as deteriorating public services collide with President Kais Saied's increasingly authoritarian rhetoric blaming the country's crises on alleged "infiltrators."

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A large crowd of Tunisian workers, employees, and union members rally in Sfax, waving flags and holding banners as they protest for wage increases, improved working conditions, and protection of union rights (Sfax Regional Labor Union)

Thousands of young doctors across Tunisia walked off the job on Wednesday, staging nationwide demonstrations to demand better wages and to warn that the country’s healthcare infrastructure is on the verge of breaking down. Their walkout adds to the growing wave of social unrest sweeping Tunisia amid deepening economic hardship and mounting dissatisfaction with public services.

In Tunis, hundreds of doctors in white coats gathered near the parliament building, raising placards calling for respect and for urgent action to rescue the public hospital network. Many spoke of overwhelming workloads, severe shortages of basic supplies, and the steady deterioration of medical facilities.

"We are exhausted, underpaid and working in a system that is breaking down," said Marwa, a young doctor who declined to provide her full name to Reuters while participating in the rally. "If nothing changes, more doctors will leave and the crisis will only deepen," she said, echoing fears of a continued exodus of medical professionals to Europe and the Gulf.

🟢#شاهد #صور عمال أكثر من 60 مؤسسة ينفذون اليوم إضرابًا عن العمل في صفاقس، استجابة إلى دعوة الاتحاد الجهوي للشغل، للمطالبة بفتح المفاوضات الاجتماعية للزيادة في الأجور، واحترام الحق النقابي..

📷 مصدر الصور: الاتحاد الجهوي للشغل بصفاقس#Tunisia #تونس #إضراب #صفاقس pic.twitter.com/sEFEEIGOMU
— Ultra Tunisia الترا تونس (@ultra_tunisia) November 18, 2025

Organizers of the strike said their movement reflects a deeper structural collapse. Wajih Dhakkar, head of the Young Doctors’ Organisation, told Reuters: "As long as the authorities ignore our demands, we will continue to escalate, resist and lead the social movement in the country."

The Health Ministry did not issue an immediate response to the doctors’ grievances.

Conspiracy Politics

President Kais Saied, who assumed sweeping powers in 2021, has repeatedly dismissed Tunisia’s overlapping crises as the result of plots by what he calls infiltrators seeking to weaken state institutions.

Over the past two years, Saied has increasingly framed dissent, criticism, and even labour mobilization as part of coordinated conspiracies targeting the state, rhetoric that rights groups say has accompanied the arrest of opposition figures, a tightening grip over the judiciary, and broader restrictions on public freedoms.

But discontent continues to build: transport workers and bank employees have held pay-related strikes in recent months, and the southern city of Gabes has become the center of environmental protests over pollution tied to a state-run chemical complex.

The strike by young doctors injects fresh momentum into a nationwide wave of anger and instability.