COVID-19: Tamale Central Hospital lays off 143 casual staff
The Tamale Central Hospital, located at Tishigu in the Tamale Metropolis, has temporarily laid off 143 casual workers of the hospital due to the negative impact of the coronavirus disease (COVOD-19).
The decision follows the inability of the hospital to mobilise enough revenue to pay the salaries of workers as a result of a drop in the number of outpatients since the outbreak of COVID-19.
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Dismissed workers
The workers include cleaners, records assistants, security personnel, assistant laboratory technicians, ward assistants and clerks.
Some of them told the Daily Graphic that they had not been paid since December last year.
They further alleged that the management of the hospital was hiding behind the COVID-19 scourge to dismiss them, a grand design to rob them of their due rewards for the toil and sacrifices they had made for the hospital.
The spokesperson for the dismissed workers, Mr Fuseini Mutala, claimed that some of them with qualifications ranging from degrees to diplomas, had worked as casual workers for 12 years, with the least being two years.
Mr Mutala said management of the hospital started dismissing some of them before the outbreak of the COVID-19 and, therefore, could not blame the situation on the pandemic.
"We are owed five months salary by the hospital beginning from December last year to March this year and so they cannot use COVID-19 as a disguise to dismiss us," he stated.
Mr Fuseini, however, appealed to the government to come to their aid, especially to regularise the appointment of some of them, saying this was the time the healthcare system needed more health personnel in the wake of the coronavirus.
Management
When the Daily Graphic contacted the Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr Mahamadu Mbiniwaya, he said the 143 casual workers had not been dismissed but temporarily laid off due to the COVID-19 scourge that had adversely affected the revenue stream of the facility.
He said the workers were paid from the internally generated fund (IGF) which had dwindled since the outbreak of COVID-19.
Dr Mbiniwaya explained that clients visiting the hospital had reduced for fear of being infected by the coronavirus and that had affected their IGF, hence the decision to lay off the workers to save the facility from total collapse.
The Medical Superintendent added that if the situation normalised, the workers would be recalled, saying “now we are keeping a few of them that we can pay to run the facility.”
Touching on the salary arrears, Dr Mbiniwaya said the National Health Insurance Scheme owed the hospital 12 months arrears and expressed the hope that once they received some payments from the health insurance authority they would be able to settle the salary arrears.