NAHWAL alarms over huge salary reduction

The National Health Workers Association of Liberia (NAHWAL) says it seriously troubled by the alarming reductions of incentives and salaries of public health workers throughout the country amidst the daily increases in prices of basic commodities on the local markets.

According to a NAHWAL’s release, the deductions started gradually in February 2016 with a few low level health care workers and later graduated to all levels of health workers by July.

‘’They started with deduction of 50% of incentives in May 2016 and progressed to 70% of incentives in June 2016, leaving low level health workers with between seven ($7.00) to nine ($9.00) United States dollars as monthly incentives. While some middle level health workers who once received one hundred and seventy eight ($178.00) USD in RURAL LIBERIA are now left with only fifty three ($53.00) USD as incentives’’, the release said.

It noted that health care workers experienced yet another shocking reduction in July 2016, this time around, in their salaries with some middle level health workers experiencing between 3,000 and 4,000 plus Liberian dollars reduction, something which the health workers term as discouraging.

“How does our government expect us to pay rent for our homes and mortgages for the health workers` housing units?, How can we pay our children school

fees and put food on the table when our incentives and salaries put together cannot even pay our monthly transportation to and from
work’’, the association asked.

NAHWAL noted that in July 2016, when public health workers were eagerly expecting to see increment in their Liberian dollars (salaries) account, to their greatest surprise all public health workers’ pay was again reduced by huge amount, adding this time around, they are hearing there were errors in the calculation of insurance premium at the Ministry of Finance.

However, it observed that the amount deducted from the salaries unmatched the period the authorities at the ministry allegedly computed the premium for, which has created doubt considering the trend of events.

The release says a resilient health work force is the foundation on which a resilient
health sector is built, so to treat this foundation with less care and no
ingredients of motivation that would concretize the foundation will
leave the entire resilient health sector plan to crumble down before
long.

It says at the hem of it all is the fact that the Government of Liberia feels
absolutely unobligated to the health workers on ground that she does
not recognize the workers’ association which represents their
collective voice. Press release