DOCTORS’ THREAT TO DOWN TOOLS: GOVT SPRINGS INTO ACTION

MBABANE – The Ministry of Finance has released more officers to speed up the process of paying on-call allowances for doctors and those on standby.

This comes amid doctors in public hospitals threatening to down tools, following their unpaid on-call and standby allowances. The non-payment of the doctors would have seen members of the public requiring emergency services during the festive holidays not being attended to. The doctors have since put on hold their decision, while the Ministry of Health is working on addressing their concern. A memorandum was issued earlier by the ministry, informing the doctors about the delay in the payment of their on-call and standby allowances, which, it was said, would be released in January 2024.  The doctors did not accept the contents of the communication and wrote to the principal secretary (PS), informing him of same. They further demanded that the allowances be paid with their December salaries, which prompted the ministry to speed up the payment process.

Delay

Information gathered was that the claim forms for the on-call and standby allowances were stuck in the Ministry of Public Service, hence the delay. According to the doctors, they submitted their claims about three months ago, but to date, they have not been processed. The PS in the Ministry of Health, Khanya Mabuza, has assured that the doctors’ allowances would be paid on time. Mabuza said: “We had a meeting with the doctors and explained the challenges government is facing.” The Minister of Health, Mduduzi Matsebula, confirmed that the Ministry of Finance had since released more people to work around the clock in processing the allowances. Matsebula was questioned on how far government was in terms of processing the doctors’ allowances. He thanked the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, for releasing more people to speed up the payment process. He stated that so far they were happy with the progress.

The minister further stated that they were working with the Ministry of Public Service on the issuance of authority to pay the on-call and standby allowances. “We appreciate that the Ministry of Public Service is giving the matter priority in order to be able to normalise the situation,” Matsebula added. Also, he thanked the doctors for understanding and cooperating as the ministry tried to address the matter.

Matsebula said they all needed each other in working together in finding lasting solutions to all the challenges faced by the Health Ministry, in particular.  Asked whether the Accountant General’s (AG) Office would work overtime to process the payment, the minister said they had been given more people on the ground to be able to facilitate the payments. Following the suspension of operations with immediate effect due to the shortage of essential drugs at the Mbabane Government Theatre, Matsebula said they were working around the clock to normalise the situation. Currently, he said the hospital was dealing with emergencies and they were hopeful that before the end of the week, there would be enough stock to stabilise the theatres in the country.

“We are receiving stock, from last week and working around the clock for the theatres to work normally.” Since last week Monday, the Mbabane Government Hospital Theatre has not been conducting operations, save for emergencies, following the lack of supplies, which included anaesthetic injections; Bupivacain and Ketamine, among others. Doctors and nurses working at the hospital resolved to completely cease operations, citing that government was deliberately delaying to address the issue of the shortage of drugs and medical supplies in the country. This, they stated, was because all along, they were able to assist those who afforded to buy the anaesthetic injections, which would no longer be the case.
Another hospital theatre which had ceased theatre operations for normal bookings was the Mankayane Government Hospital.

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