swaziland times

BABANE – From today, government doctors will no longer see sick people after office hours.

This was confirmed by the Duty Committee as the medical staff have not received duty and standby allowance till date. Health Ministry Chief Secretary Khanya Mabuza held a meeting with healthcare professionals last week. Mabuza promised doctors would receive the money by June 30, 2024.
The standby and on-call allowances for the period from October 2023 to March 2024 were not included in the monthly salary in June 2024 as they had expected.

Without the on-call and on-call allowances, healthcare professionals have decided to stop working from today and will not attend to all patients requiring emergency services until they are paid in full. There are more than 300 medical staff on call and on standby at major hospitals in the country, including Mbabane Government Hospital, Hlatihuru Government Hospital, Mankayane Government Hospital and Piggs Peak Government Hospital. Other health workers who will not be working on weekends and evenings are those working at Mkhuzweni, Dvokolwako and Matsanjeni health centres.

The medical staff on duty included doctors, operating room nurses, laboratories, pharmacies, blood banks and biomedical sciences, etc. When asked by reporters whether they had received their allowances, members of the duty committee said they had not received their salaries. The members said they would not change the content of the notice they wrote to the PS early last month.

“As per instructions to all medical staff involved in duty and standby duties, it is hereby conveyed that duty and standby allowance for the above period shall still be paid along with the monthly salary for June 2024. In case of non-compliance of the above, all medical staff shall immediately cease all duty and standby duties at all affected facilities on July 1, 2024,” the committee representing medical staff said.

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They said clear instructions would be given tonight. Medical staff said they could not accept the removal of standby and on-call allowances. Medical staff said all other alternative payment arrangements explored in the past imposed higher rates, which caused significant damage to their finances. They said that instalment payments, missing officers or other forms of delay would force them to stop working until all officers were paid in full. The resolution of the medical staff came against the backdrop of a recommendation by members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to the Ministry of Health to scrap the budget for standby allowance and divert it to the procurement of medicines.
Referring to the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital, PAC deputy chairperson Manzi Zwane said it was frustrating that the government was paying so much on-call allowance to doctors while patients were not cared for when they were off duty.

The lawmaker also said there was no sense of urgency in the hospital, especially after 7 p.m. when doctors were off duty. He said it made no sense to budget for standby allowances without providing services. “The government pays these people’s salaries but we are not getting services. EmaSwati is getting substandard health care in the hospital but the government has set aside a budget to pay for duty allowances. The Ministry of Health should scrap the duty allowance budget and use it to procure more medicines,” he said.

In response, doctors said they did not take the PAC’s statement seriously and were not troubled by it. They said they would not accept the statement as no official statement had been issued to them by the ministry. This is not the first time that medical staff have threatened to stop working over duty and standby allowances. In December 2023, medical staff said they would not be able to work duty and standby, which means they would work during normal working hours. They argued that the application for the allowance was submitted about three months ago but the government is still processing it, which the health professionals explained was a deliberate attempt to obstruct them. When contacted for comment, the PS said he was busy in a meeting and would get back to the reporter later.