Zomba hospital staff stage sit-in
By Tiyese Monjeza:
At least 115 medical personnel at Zomba Central Hospital Monday started a sit-in to force the Ministry of Health (MoH) to settle their salary arrears.
Among the workers are clinicians, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory technicians.
When we visited the referral facility, we saw the medical personnel singing and displaying placards demanding immediate payment of their money.
A healthcare worker who opted for anonymity said the medical personnel have been engaging the hospital’s management on their grievances.
According to the official, they have always been promised that they would be given their dues.
“We have been engaging management on this matter but they always assure us that they are processing files to be sent to Capital Hill. However, we wonder that some of us are yet to be given our money accumulated from 2014,” the source said.
He added that the money is owed from promotion and general salary arrears for newly recruited staff.
Zomba Central Hospital Administration Officer, Antonio Kamanga, asked for more time before responding to our questions on the matter.
Ministry of Health spokesperson, Joshua Malango, said he was not aware of the matter and referred us back to authorities at the referral facility.
Meanwhile, President of the National Organisation of Nurses and Midwives, Shouts Simeza, said the body has on several occasions engaged the ministry to speed up settlement of the arrears.
“We have a shortage of medical personnel in the country and instead of ensuring that we are promoting the welfare of workers in the health sector, we are abusing them by not paying them their money,” he said.
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