Contract Covid-19 workers who put their lives on the line and have either been not paid, shortchanged or compensated for overtime, are asking: “what about us now?”
Some are waiting for the sheriff of the court to knock on their doors as their debts pile up.
Others have walked away to find a job elsewhere as they no longer trust the Eastern Cape health department to pay up.
The department went on a hiring spree early in 2020, resulting in hundreds of doctors, nurses, Cuban professionals and community helpers joining the ranks of front-line workers.
Contracts were signed in February, with the health-care workers hired for one year, from April 1 to March 31.
Some doctors were hired through sessional contracts, allowing them to work 80 hours a month, but ended up working more hours because of the demand for their services.
The contracted Covid-19 workers were dispatched to various hospitals — with much jubilation from the health department — where they battled Covid-19.
Some died from Covid-19 complications. .
The Nelson Mandela Bay health district contracted 1,095 workers in various positions.
However, health department spokesperson Siyanda Manana said there were no contracted health-care workers that had not been paid.
This, he said, did not include the Cuban doctors and those contracted by the Livingstone and Dora Nginza Hospitals.
“Otherwise, there are no employees with outstanding salary payments.”
He said the department was only informed on Friday that there were issues with overtime allowances.
“We have requested details of those claiming that they were not paid in order to verify such claims. The field hospital’s management will provide such details on Monday.”
The department’s acting superintendent-general, Dr Sibongile Zungu, wrote to her subordinates on February 12 informing them there was no money available to absorb any of the contract workers.
She said the funding for the contract workers and sessional doctors had been secured from a disaster grant equitable share allocation related to Covid-19.
“It must [be] noted that there is no provision of carry-through costs for the funding of Covid-19 contract appointments, and it is for this reason that the contracts are set to expire on March 31.”
She said the department would have preferred to hire the contract workers, but budget cuts and medico-legal claims had exhausted any funds that could have been available in the next financial year.
“The department is not in a position to commit to Covid-19 contract appointments beyond March 31.”
Nehawu provincial Secretary Miki Jaceni said the union would fight for the health department contract workers to be absorbed.
Jaceni said they would meet the department in the next few days to discuss the matter.
Jaceni said he was unaware of contract workers going unpaid.
“They must call our office and narrate their stories so we can pick up on this issue.”
For one doctor, he is too scared to look how far he has fallen behind on his home loan.
He worked at the Dr Elizabeth Mamisa Chabula-Nxiweni Field Hospital, but eventually left a month ago after he was owed one month’s salary, of which he netted R32,000.
At the same time he had worked overtime.
“I am just waiting for the sheriff at this point,” he said, declining to be named.
“The department gives you a letter for your creditors but the creditors don’t care.”
The doctor, who struggled to hold back tears, said he had received repeated calls from debt collectors and he planned to return to a small private practice.
“I don’t know how the other doctors are surviving,” he said.
“At this point I don’t even have a medical aid because I can’t afford the premiums.”
He said in just one month he had clocked more than 300 hours in overtime.
The doctor, who said he felt used, said he had eventually been placed on leave as he had surpassed his contractual hours, only to be called back due to others being booked off sick.
“All they [the department] care about now is the vaccine rollout and they forgot about us who put our lives on the line. It has been a fight from the word go.
“It is inhumane what they are doing to us,” the doctor said.
Another doctor at the field hospital said they had not been paid for January.
“Generally there is no communication as to when the time sheets need to be in.
“The roster was chaotic and in terms of administration we had no idea who to report to.
“Luckily, I am not dependent on the money.”
A third doctor, who was also not paid, said they had been informed that their salaries for January and February would reflect in their bank account in the first week of March.
Contract nurses at the filed hospital also claim they have not been paid overtime allowances since starting their jobs.
In addition, salaries were also not always paid on time. which left them to fight with creditors.
A nurse, who declined to be named out of fear of hindering future employment prospects, said even though they were waiting to hear about overtime, their main gripe was full, time employment.
Many of the nurses have been left shortchanged by thousands of rand as their full salaries were never paid out in full.
After a meeting on Friday, she said the department had promised to pay overtime allowances in the first two weeks of March.
“HR said they were busy processing [overtime] allowances for which I haven’t been paid since last year July.”
She said the department had rushed to hire nurses at the start of the epidemic.
“When I went to sign the contract they did not explain anything. They just showed us our salaries and you are given five minutes to read the important paragraphs. Then you sign.”
Before taking up work at the field hospital, she worked as a full-time nurse in ICU at a private hospital.
“I always wanted to work in the public sector [and] I thought they would absorb us knowing the gross shortage of nurses, but the department, especially Nelson Mandela Bay district, do not care.
“They don’t care about my wellbeing. I will be forced to drink sugar water and they will sit in restaurants and dine.
“Who will look after my family’s needs? My life is hanging by a thread and I feel very insecure. We have bond payments,” she said.
Another field hospital nurse, said her January salary had been paid late and she was also owed overtime.
A third nurse said she had not been paid overtime since she started in December.
A fourth nurse had not received her January salary and said she was struggling to pay school fees.
“How can we put our lives on the line and then not be paid?
“How heartless must a department be to treat us as slaves?”
Eastern Cape department of health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said absorbing Covid-19 contract workers across the board was being discussed at national level.
“There is no money or budget available from the equitable share. The money came from the National Disaster Fund,” Kupelo said.
The contracts of contract nurses were different from permanent nursing staff, Kupelo said.
“If you are on contract you get an additional 37% on top of your salary, so they don’t qualify for overtime.”
Meanwhile, more doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were expected in the province this week for frontline workers, the department said.
By February 24, 3,041 healthcare workers had already received the jab in the province as part of the trial.
This is because the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has not yet been approved by the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority as it still has not established its efficacy or whether it is safe for use.
HeraldLIVE
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