BL Premium reports that Health Minister Joe Phaahla told MPs on Tuesday that the government’s recent wage settlement with public servants will make it harder to fill posts.
The two-year wage deal will cost the government an extra R23bn above the allocation set aside in the February budget, meaning provincial health departments will have to find the extra money promised to their employees by shifting funds from other programmes. When the agreement was signed at the end of March, the Treasury warned it would entail trade-offs such as delaying projects and restricting recruitment. “We are concerned that the salary agreement is expected to be funded from savings, meaning a reduction in head counts,” said the minister as he delivered his budget vote speech in parliament. The wage agreement came against the backdrop of a health budget that was already set to shrink in real terms over the medium-term. The budget will grow by a nominal 2.7% in terms of the medium-term expenditure framework, while Treasury estimates that inflation will come in at 5.3% this year, 4.9% in 2024 and 4.7% in 2025. Phaahla appealed to MPs to support the NHI Bill, which is currently before parliament’s portfolio committee on health. MPs on the committee are expected later this week to consider different legal opinions on the bill received from the office of the state law adviser and parliament’s legal advisors. “The NHI Bill, which is currently in your hands is simply an instrument for the realisation of the goal of equity,” Phaahla stated.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tamar Kahn at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Health department underfunded by minimum of R11bn, Phaahla believes shortfall could be higher, at News24
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