Health department to open up 551 jobs

The prioritising follows three consecutive meetings between Premier Mabuza and the organised labour where it has since been clarified that the Department of Health is not affected by the moratorium. The department was however tasked last Thursday to make an assessment to identify key posts within the available budget.

This is what was dicussed between the premier and the department in point form:

• At a meeting today, it was again clarified that despite the Department of Health having a high staff turn over of above seven percent in the number of appointments made during the past three years as a service oriented department, it is mandated to provide quality health care services by a cadre of skilled professionals.

• The meeting subsequently prioritised the filling of 551 posts critical areas of service delivery including professional and staff nurses, chief financial officers of government hospitals as well as clinical, nursing, finance and corporate managers.

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• Other posts that would be filled are for dentists, dieticians, doctors, occupational therapists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, psychologists, radiographers as well as speech therapists. Also, the nursing college will have more lecturers, whilst other personnel dealing with food, laundry and cleaning services will also be employed throughout the province.

• The department will further replace 64 officials who would be retiring at the end of the 2017/18 financial year by employing new personnel.

• The meeting reiterated that all officials that had been on acting positions should be paid retrospectively, and such was non-negotiable.

• The meeting added that the already-formed task team comprising of the heads of departments as well as the organized labour is expected to create a consultative platform for discussion and resolution of all labour matters to ensure that issues do not escalate to the level of conflict between the provincial government and labour.

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• The task teak does not substitute the work of the Chamber, but it will ensure that contentious issues are amicably resolved as part of supporting the work of the Chamber. It will create a platform for policy discussion on matters that impact on labour.