A healthcare worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) walks towards one of the temporary wards dedicated to the treatment of possible Covid-19 patients at the Nasrec Field Hospital in Soweto. Photo: AFP/Michele Spatari
The Gauteng Department of Health on Thursday said it would have liked to retain all temporary Covid-19 appointed staff appointed at public hospitals, but the department was unable to do so due to budget constraints.
The appointed critical staff, more than 800, rendered services to ensure that the Gauteng province responded effectively to the various stages of managing the pandemic.
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Their contracts were for a period of 12 months, as announced during the 2020/2021 financial year.
The contracts were initially extended after the department received funds for the 2021/2022 financial year.
Various posts created included administrative and support stuff, allied, clinical, engineering and nursing personnel.
The department had received a Covid-19 grant budget of R2.2 billion for compensation of employees to respond to the pandemic.
“The budget enabled the department to appoint critical staff required since 2020 on contract.
“The initial amount has since been reduced to R1.1 billion for the 2020/23 financial year. As a result the department will not be able to renew all temporary contracts.” the department said in a statement.
The appointment of temporary staff was to address inadequate capacity where needed.
The contracts would be terminated at the end of March 2022.
“The allocated amount will not be sufficient to cater for the total cost of the re-appointment of all categories of employees on contract for the financial year 2022/2023.
“In as much as the GDoH wants to keep all Covid-19 appointees to continue providing much needed services it is not possible to extend all the contracts without funding,” said Gauteng Health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi.
Mokgethi added that the decision on which employees would be appointed, would be based on service needs at each hospital and the availability of the budget in each facility.
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