COVID-19 orderlies disgruntled

MBABANE – A group of healthcare workers hired as orderlies during the CO9,D pandemic, raised their dissatisfac tion after the Ministry of +ealth failed to approve them for permanent positions.

*overnment hired 5 orderlies at the beginning of the pandemic in 2 2 to gether with five computer analysts, three assistant +M,S analysts, four M ( an alysts, radiographers, 3 paramedics,

pharmacists and 5 nursing assis tants.

Minister of +ealth /i]]ie 1kosi, an nounced the hiring of the 2 3 healthcare workers in April 2 2 and said there was a great need for more health work ers at the time.

,t was further recommended that the orderlies be offered permanent positions after the pandemic. Some of the order lies who were interviewed on condition of anonymity, said instead of being of fered a position as per the recommenda tion, they were downgraded to a lower salary scale of groundsmen.

The orderlies said they were made to believe that government would hire them as soon as the pandemic subsided.

“We were shocked to receive appoint ment letters into the groundsmen posi tions yet we were made to believe that the ministry and the Civil Service Com mission were to appoint us as orderlies.

FINANCIAL BLOW

“What makes this worse is the fact that we were dropped from A salary scale to A2. This means a huge financial blow for us and it is not funny anymore. We worked our socks off under the belief that we will be confirmed when the pan demic ends,´ said the orderlies.

The A salary scale for government employees stands at over ( per annum while those under A2 are paid over ( per annum. Temporary appointment letters dated March 22, 2 2 , appointing some of the orderlies was seen by The Times S81DA<.

“, am directed by the Ministry of +ealth to offer you temporal appointment as an Orderly in the 3ublic Service of (swatini.

The appointment which is not pensiona ble will be for a period of twelve months and may be terminated by one calendar months notice on either sides. ,f you as sume this appointment, you will be re Tuired to abide by the *eneral Orders of the *overnment of (swatini, and will subject to all laws and regulations in force, or as may be amended from time to time, which govern the public service,´ reads the appointment letter.

REMUNERATED

The letter further stated that the health care workers were going to remunerated on the A scale.

While they were expecting an appoint ment into a permanent position of order lies by government, the workers were, however, appointed into the position of groundsmen which falls on the A2 sal ary scale.

Another letter written by the CSC ap pointing the healthcare workers to the positions of groundsmen was also seen by the publication.

“, am directed by the Civil Service Commission to offer you the appoint ment of *roundsmen in the 3ublic Ser vice of (swatini.

*overnment further warned the newly appointed groundsmen that should their contract be terminated on condition of their misconduct, they would be ex pected to refund all expenses spent by the State on them.

Contacted for comment, 3rincipal Secretary in the Ministry of +ealth, Si mon Zwane confirmed that they were not able to hire all the orderlies who were part of the CO9,D pandemic response team.

GRANTED AUTHORITY

Zwane confirmed that the ministry was granted authority by the Ministry of 3ublic Service to convert posts created for CO9,D response to permanent and pensionable positions.

“A total of orderly posts were con verted in April 2 22, which was a re duction of the reTuired positions. The ministry in collaboration with the

Civil Service Commission, finalised the recruitment process. 35 serving officers were promoted to the position of orderly and were new appointments,´ he said.

When Tui]]ed on whether those who were given appointments during the pandemic were considered, Zwane con firmed that they were appointed to other support staff positions which were under grade A2 salary scale.

+e further denied that the appointment was a demotion, considering their salary scale. Zwane said their contract elapsed and therefore they were practically not employed, making it inaccurate to refer to the appointments as a demotion. +e said they had limited number of posts compared to the temporary contracts issued during the pandemic response exercise.

“The permanent positions available as stated were limited ( ) as compared to the temporary positions we had dur ing the pandemic. After the conversion of the positions to permanent and pen sionable, the Ministry of +ealth and the Civil Service Commission had to follow a different route in filling these positions.

PROMOTIONS

“We needed to first consider serving officers for promotions and offer the conseTuential positions to those who were employed during pandemic. This was not a demotion because the tempo rary employment which has its terms and conditions lapsed and the perma nent and pensionable dispensation has its terms and conditions different from temporary employment,´ said Zwane.

,n healthcare, an orderly (also known as a ward assistant, nurse assistant or healthcare assistant) is a hospital at tendant whose job consists of assisting medical and nursing staff with various nursing and medical interventions. The highest role of an orderly is that of an operations assistant. An operations as sistant reTuires people who are knowl edgeable in advanced medical terminol ogy and assist with specialist surgery setups, and typically an operations assistant understands more about surgi cal procedures than a registered nurse working outside of the theatres. An operations assistant is a direct assistant to consultant level doctors more than to nurses. These duties are classified as routine tasks involving no risk for the patient.

The 2021 appointment letter to the position of orderly. position of groundsmen. (RIGHT) The 2022 appointment letter to the

(Courtesy pics)