Johannesburg - The Gauteng Department of Health says it has started the process of paying more than 1 000 Covid-19 workers contracted to the department for the pandemic.
Department spokesperson Motalatale Modiba, said more than 1 000 contract employees based at various facilities experienced delays in the payment of their May salaries due to administrative processes.
He said the delayed payment was expected to be made within two weeks after more than 1145 employees were affected by the administrative bungle, which included medical officers, dentists, and nurses who were previously on Covid-19 contracts.
"They were not paid in April, and the Gauteng Health Department is saying it will be two more weeks before they are paid. As usual, they blame administrative issues, but it is unacceptable that workers have to suffer for so long without payment. It follows other payment failures with dire consequences, such as food shortages at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital," the DA’s Gauteng health spokesperson Jack Bloom said.
Speaking to The Star, one affected student nurse confirmed she and many other student nurses were paid their April 2023 salaries, said: "We are students who are denied placements after we have successfully completed our studies."
A worker who spoke on condition of anonymity said she was not happy with the situation.
The DA said employees, including nurses and junior doctors, were affected, adding that new appointments were also affected in the process.
"Employees who are now in facilities that were previously never allocated a Covid-19 budget and junior doctors who are bursary holders and were not in the system before.
“The affected nurses and doctors had to be on-boarded as new appointments meaning that a recruitment and selection process had to be followed in appointing them,"the party said.
The appointment processes in the province are handled by several departments. In this instance, the Gauteng Department of Health has been working with the Department of e-Government as well as the Provincial Treasury.
The Star