The manpower of human resources deployed in the Health Ministry is almost equal to the work demand, says Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
A Health Ministry internal circular recently revealed overtime payment for certain categories of health workers, including those in medical laboratories, oral health and dental services and pharmacies, had ceased
Responding to the media in Nadi yesterday, Mr Rabuka said the initial instruction came from the Ministry of Civil Service (MCS).
“And that is the ministry I look after,” he said.
“With the extra pay that was going on during the time, we were paying over time to those that existed in the workforce.
“We feel that it should now be time for the numbers to have caught up so that there is no need to bring back anybody after duty to continue the work.
“There should be enough in the workforce now to continue and work normal hours but offer the services to the public as required of them.”
Mr Rabuka said the procedure taken was mainly on manpower and budgeting.
“This is a result of a corrective program put in by the Government to increase the number of workers in the workforce.
“So, there is no need to call back those that have finished their allocated number of hours per week to come and do extra work.
“They believe that it is now time for everybody who worked normal hours to serve the demands of the public.”
Mr Rabuka said this was the second time the ministry was asking for another endorsement to high grade officers band F in certain cadre that don’t have full potential for workforce to do overtime.
“As mentioned, it is only for certain cadres such as medical imaging technicians, pharmacists etc.
“While we try and build on the numbers to fill all established posts, the overtime for high grade officers will have to be a temporary solution.
“It’s usually given by MCS on a six-month basis.”
