Health department puts over 12 000 jobs on ice

MBOMBELA – A total of 12 836 positions have been frozen by the provincial health department.

This occurred after a directive from the national Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) instructing all government departments to abolish vacant posts which had not been filled by March 31, 2015.

The 841 jobs that were not filled in the provinces’s hospitals were revoked, as were 2 621 in clinics and community health-care centres, according to the department’s spokesman, Mr Dumisani Malamule.

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The directive also stated that departments must decrease the minimum period it takes to fill a funded vacancy to six months and must regularly assess current vacancy level and turnaround times to fill the posts.

The decision was the result of the wage bill that is far above the norm.

The result is a reduction in the average vacancy rate. A maximum of 10 per cent is targeted.

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However, this does not reduce practical shortages in the province’s health-care system.

For months Lowvelder has been receiving complaints from community members who are dissatisfied with the poor service they receive in public-health facilities.

During a visit to KaNyamazane Clinic, the newspaper found people patiently waiting to be assisted. This was slow in coming. One patient, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the staff members in the clinic worked hard to assist them, but there were just not enough of them.

“The service is slow because there are not enough people to help us. Sometimes you can leave the place without getting assistance,” he said.

Another said she spent many hours in queue waiting to be assisted.

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At the Bell Street Clinic in Mbombela a patient spent hours waiting without her needs being adequately addressed. She said nurses sometimes had to juggle the work of attending to people with general problems, and those with maternity problems.

Malamule said the Mpumalanga Department of Health accordingly abolished posts. An assessment found 1 374 vacant posts that had not been filled. He explained that the abolishment of the posts did not mean that vacancies, especially critical ones, will not be filled.

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“This simply means that the department will develop a priority list of critical posts that need to be filled,” said Malamule.

“It does not deny the fact that health remains a critical service and that there is still shortage of staff within many facilities. In order to make sure that the department continues to fill critical posts as per the priority lists, a strategy has been developed which entails that prioritisation of vacancies,” he said.

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This would include consideration and budgeting only for key posts, implementation of norms, and conducting investigations that will look at minimum staff provision that can be considered for the delivery of health services through a health economist.

According to Malamule, the provincial cabinet stated that the provincial salary bill is far above the norm and thus inhibiting investments in infrastructure and critical service delivery, hence the moratorium on filling of vacant unfunded posts.