Nurses arrears will be paid in due course — MoH

Rebecca Quaicoe Duho Oct - 06 - 2015 , 05:26

The Ministry of Health (MoH) has promised striking nurses that their salary arrears would be paid in due course. The Public Relations Officer of the ministry, Mr Tony Goodman, said, “It is hopeful that by Friday, their data would have reached the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) for payment.”

He, however, pointed out that not everyone would receive the amount they were expecting as some of them did not start work on their exact dates of appointment.

Last Sunday, a group of nurses and midwives, known as the ‘Coalition of Unpaid Nurses and Midwives’ declared an indefinite strike over their unpaid salaries and arrears.

Members of the group were employed between 2011 and 2015.

The strike is to back their demand for the payment of their salary arrears

Mr Goodman said the ministry was currently working to ensure that the affected nurses were paid from the time they started work, adding that the ministry was cleansing the payroll system to ensure that the right thing was done.

Giving details, he said the Audit Service had finished work on the payroll and the arrears of the more than 7,000 nurses were being keyed into the system so that they could be paid.

He further explained that the ministry was working with the government’s policy of paying only three months of arrears while those with arrears of more than three months would have to provide documentation for verification.