The Director General of Health Aiono Dr. Alec Ekeroma has cited a wide “abuse of overtime claims inflating payouts to all levels of staff” with the Ministry of Health.
The government media reported the Ministry is facing a lot of issues when it comes to salaries and overtime compensation for staff.
There are ongoing negotiations with the Public Service Commission (PSC) to address, correct and alleviate these ongoing issues and any inconsistencies.
He pointed out during an interview with Savali, some OT claims are not believable at 120 hours of OT in a fortnight.
“So we started auditing OT and payroll that is continuing as proper process need to be followed.
“We have seen a reduction in claims as we limit work hours per day to 16 hours per PSC policy.
“As per PSC policy, anyone paid at ACEO level ($90K or more) is not paid OT. “So all nurses and doctors who earn less can claim OT if approved by a supervisor.
“The PSC is offering clinicians at ACEO and above the level a responsibility allowance (RA) to cover any OT or other allowances. So if a surgeon’s base rate is $110K plus a RA of 30% = $143K pa. If 40% RA is given, then = $154K.”
Also, the Minister has advocated increasing the RA to 100% for 5 specialist clinicians who have consistently claimed a high number of OT hours.
That will mean a salary of $220K pa for the clinician earning a base of $110K. Aiono made it clear the MOH is not moving to cut OT hours for doctors and nurses.
“The MOH, through an audit, has enforced the PSC policies and processes not observed in the last four years.
“The PSC is now completing the merge of the former “NHS conditions” into PSC conditions. The merge occurred four years ago and was never completed.
“Some staff, including doctors, have been under the “NHS conditions, ” meaning they receive a large wage from that source.
“If someone claims 80 hours of OT per fortnight consistently, then they can stand to earn more than $300K pa.
“The OT bill for specialists only last year was more than $5M. That is the excess the PSC is trying to control.” According to Aiono the MOH supports and implements PSC conditions, processes and
regulations.
The current negotiations will complete soon, and new conditions will be effective from 1 July, according to PSC.
SOURCE: SAVALI
