Nurses at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre have threatened to go on industrial action over the alleged failure by the government to pay health workers Covid-19 allowances.
Nurses who have been working at the hospital’s Covid-19 facilities say they are yet to receive the allowances seven months after conducting the work.
According to a letter making rounds on social media addressed to the Minister of Health, the nurses are asking the minister to intervene in the matter.
The nurses say it is sad that government is not willing to pay them despite working in Covid-19 facilities where their lives were at risk.
“That beside the disease terror, we worked tirelessly day and night helping people to breathe so that they have life. It’s not that we deny life, but it’s about being ethical and professional. Now here we are, out of all the sacrifices, the employer, the Ministry of Health, chooses not to pay us back,” reads part of the letter.
Speaking in an interview, one of the nurses who requested to keep her identity anonymous, said that management at the hospital does not respond to their calls for redress despite several attempts.
“At first, allowances were coming normally but from the third surge of Covid-19 that is when we started seeing the challenges, we are talking about allowances from November 2021,” said the nurse.
She said the nurses recently invited the hospital director for a roundtable but she never showed up for the meeting.
“If this continues we are putting our tools down,” said the nurse.
A recent audit report by National Audit Office revealed that money over 25 million kwacha was approved for payment for allowances without any evidence of payment to staff.
Ministry of health was yet to comment by the time we were publishing.
