Sorry, no jobs – Govt informs 640 health workers

THE health ministry has shelved plans to employ 640 health extension graduates due to budgetary constraints after promising them jobs and admitting a staff shortage.

Health extension workers from nine regions in the country underwent a six-months’ intensive training programme between 2016 and 2017, graduating in June last year, as part of the recruitment and preparatory process by the health ministry.

These workers serve as a link between the health facilities and communities, especially in remote areas, as they bring health services closer to the people. The teams are supposed to conduct regular home visits to persons living with disabilities, pensioners and pregnant women who otherwise cannot reach health facilities.

Some of the graduates, who claimed to have resigned from their previous jobs after they were given guarantees of jobs at the ministry, have demanded answers from the ministry why they advertised the vacancies if they did not have the budgetary provisions for such. It is not clear how much the government had invested in the six-months training programme.

There are currently only 1 600 health extension workers employed on a full-time basis countrywide, and the ministry says it needs more, but is unable to accommodate the newly trained crop.

Health permanent secretary Ben Nangombe yesterday said the ministry cannot employ the graduates because of budgetary constraints, adding that the group should look for other opportunities.

“Yes, the need for health extension workers is there, but there is no money. The government is engaged in a consolidation exercise to cut the wage bill, and we are unable to employ them,” he reiterated.

However, some of the graduates are blaming the government for their unemployment.

Father-of-two Kayongo Willem from the //Karas region, who was the family’s breadwinner, said he had a secure job at a mining company, but resigned to join the health extension programme.

“I’m now sitting at home doing nothing, yet I have children to support. I was forced to move my children from a private school to a public school because I am now unemployed,” added Willem.

“What must I tell my daughter when she asks me for bread? Is this what the Harambee Prosperity Plan is all about?” he asked bitterly.

Another graduate, Linyando Ladislaus (38), who is based in Kavango East, said he resigned from his job as a literacy teacher in 2016 after being selected for the programme by the ministry.

“We have been waiting to hear from the ministry since the middle of last year after our graduation, but they keep telling us to wait,” he stated. Ladislaus is now sitting at home without work.

“I cannot go back to my former employer because they have already replaced me,” he lamented.

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