Speed up salaries for public health workers, nurses body asks govt

National Association of Nurses and Midwives has asked the government to speed up payment of salaries for public health workers, saying the delay is infringement of the rights of the workers. [caption id="attachment_84738" align="alignright" width="600"] Ready to serve- Nurses wait at the entrance to the casualty ward[/caption] National Association of Nurses and Midwives (NONM) executive director Harriet Bwanali said the delay in paying salaries to the public health workers will affect delivery of health services. "I inquired from the ministry of Health why there is this delay and they are saying they are cleaning the payroll, they have been told to clean the payroll data by treasury. I do not know what they mean by this," she said. She said the ministry officials told her payment of salaries will start next Monday. "But this is a breach of agreement between the employer and employee. An employee is supposed to be paid after working for the month," said Bwanali who heads the nurses and midwives union. She said the ministry of Health officials said there were a lot of discrepancies on the ministry of Health payroll. Ministry of Health officials are refusing to comment on the matter to the media built this comes barely weeks after the government interdicted 74 staff from the ministry of Agriculture for among others giving themselves double or triple salaries through dubious means.