- No fund?
- MHMS expat paid in full
- Local workers sacrifice in pain
MANY COVID-19 front line and casual workers are desperately in need after most of them were turned back from the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) Thursday.
One of the big questions now is how long the government will and the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) do this.
Spokesperson for a group of front line and casual workers mostly working under MHMS questioned why the ministry continues to turn blind eye on their welfare?
“Maybe because we are just casual workers so the ministry and the government does not see the importance of our job to be paid as we expected?” the spokesperson questioned.
The spokesperson said most of them are without pay and salary for all most 2 to 3 months now while others only received theirs only a fortnight ago.
“Yesterday most of us were expecting our salaries and allowance but when we checked our respective bank accounts sadly ‘nothing happens’
“Who employed the front liners and the health casual workers but did not priorities their welfare?” the spokesperson further questioned.
The spokesperson said why is the MHMS and the government so concern about responding to this pandemic and pushing them to work but fail to consider or take action to prioritize the welfare of the staff?
“We have been praised by the government during the Prime Minister’s nationwide address but little did he know we are suffering to meet ends meet for our families,” the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, the Solomon Star was reliably informed that while the local front line and casual officers go without pay for their service some expats contracted under MHMS were lavishly paid for their service.
The spokesperson told this paper that if MHMS and the government can afford to pay the expats why they can’t do the same treatment with the local workers.
They call on the ministry and its Permanent Secretary to please prioritise their plea now because they cannot go on like this.
The Solomon Star yesterday sent a number of questions to the PS but they cannot response on this matter.
The questions were also copied to MHMS Director Policy and Planning and MHMS Human Resource.
No response from them since then.
MHMS insider also confirmed that a meeting was convened just after the Solomon Star inquired about this matter.
By ANDREW FANASIA
Newsroom Honiara
