Members of the Solomon Islands Para-Medical Association have joined the teachers' protest against the government's failure to settle their arrears of salary.
George Atkin reports from Honiara.
"The Association is the second public sector union whose members have been allowed to take part in a sit-in protest against the government over the same reason. The first is the Solomon Islands Teachers Association whose members have been on a sit-in protest for almost three weeks now. The protest by the paramedical workers has been unnoticed until now as it is beginning to have adverse effects on the health services in the National Referral Hospital in Honiara. A charge nurse in the national hospital has told the national radio, the SIBC, that there is an urgent need for the association and the government to resolve their dispute."