Alliance For Change (AFC) executive Valerie Garrido-Lowe yesterday called on the Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, to ensure that persons who worked temporarily at the Kumaka District Hospital (KDH) during the period that the Moruca sub-district was a COVID-19 hotspot are paid for the work that they had done.
During the AFC’s weekly virtual press conference yesterday, Garrido-Lowe noted that at the end of June, 2020, Santa Rosa, Moruca, was declared the hot-spot for COVID-19, and with so many person testing positive for the virus, there was an urgent need for more staff, which was requested for by KDH.
She said that 30 ‘temporary staff’ were subsequently employed but to date only 3 of those persons were paid but not for the entire period that they worked. “Twenty-seven of them were never paid. The regional authorities were asked to look into the matter, including the RHOs (Regional Health Officers) but so far nothing positive has come forth. Therefore, the Alliance For Change is calling on the Minister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony, to personally look into this matter with the aim of ensuring that these persons get paid what is owed to them. Since they were temporary staff we expect the Ministry to retain them only when they are needed. But they have worked and now they need to get paid,” Garrido-Lowe said.
In addition, she said, there is also an outstanding payment owed to the person who was contracted to spray the village during the lockdown.
In this regard, she added that Government should be aware of the scarcity of jobs in the hinterland and thus the AFC is looking forward to those temporary health workers being paid as early as possible. “It is the Christmas Season and receiving their payments at this time would certainly bring cheer to their households,” she concluded.
When contacted yesterday, Ministry of Health (MoH) spokesperson Daniel Singh stated that the ministry has been aware of the issue and has received feedback from persons who say that they were employed by the former Minister of Health Volda Lawrence, but those persons were unable to provide a written contract of employment nor has the Ministry been able to find any records of such employments.
He noted, however, that Anthony has indicated that the Ministry will consider any request for payment that has merit but it is unfortunate that the Ministry is left with the task of verifying these employment matters where people may have legitimately worked. He added that the ministry is of the view that such persons deserve to be paid but they will have to ensure that they can provide sufficient information to indicate the work done and the period of time in which the work was carried out.
“The Ministry will honor any legitimate contract of employment once work had been completed as per agreed terms and conditions of employment,” Singh said, before noting that this issue is not only unique to Region One but several other regions as well.
