Why COVID-19 contact tracers in Ashanti Region had their allowances slashed
The Ashanti Regional Director of Health, Dr Emmanuel Tenkorang, has explained that the allowances of COVID-19 contact tracers in the region was slashed because their services were no longer needed.
The region’s contact tracers laid down their tools last Friday, June 12, to protest the reduction of their daily allowances from GH¢150 to GH¢70.
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Admitting that the allowances had indeed been slashed, Dr Tenkorang at a press briefing in Kumasi on Wednesday explained that during the lockdown when the workload was high, the health directorate recruited volunteers to assist the staff of the Ministry of Health in the collection of samples and paid them GH¢150 a day.
He said the amount was paid to only the volunteers while the staff of the ministry were paid only their usual monthly salaries.
However, after the lifting of the ban on movement, the ministry decided to do away with the volunteers and use only the staff for the contact tracing and added that the volunteers were being used only in Greater Accra and Ashanti regions, while the other regions relied solely on their own staff.
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The director said some of the districts later requested to also use volunteers for contact tracing as they did not have enough personnel to perform that task.
According to him, it was subsequently agreed that those who wanted to use the volunteers should budget for them from their own resources and “they agreed to pay them GH¢70 a day and this was communicated to them”.
“Besides, we have asked those who have any problem to report to the regional health directorate but we are yet to see any of them,” he said.
According to him, it was subsequently agreed that those who wanted to use the volunteers should budget for them from their own resources and “they agreed to pay them GH¢70 a day and this was communicated to them”.
“Besides, we have asked those who have any problem to report to the regional health directorate but we are yet to see any of them,” he said.
