Darfur health assistants object to non-payment

More than a dozen assistants at the health centre in Deleig, Central Darfur, report that they have not received their full salaries from the government for three years.

The 13 health assistants, who have been working in Deleig since 2013, also complained that they have not been appointed to an official paid position and have been working voluntarily, for less than half of the salary.

After they were selected to work in the health centre under contract, they conducted a training course in Zalingei Hospital.

The employees received a monthly amount of SD250 ($41) from the health centre as temporary compensation, but not their full salaries from the Ministry of Finance, one of the assistants explained to Radio Dabanga.

“We were surprised when a number of nurses and health workers were appointed from outside Deleig health centre in the past few weeks,” he said. “We were not appointed although we have been working here since 2013 and were trained at Zalingei Hospital.

“The decision to appoint other people in Deleig is related to their affiliations with the government,” he claimed.

The employees raised a complaint to the state authorities about the new appointments in Deleig, but received the response that their files have been lost. “We have to submit new applications for employment.”

The group demanded the appointment of the workers from outside Deleig be cancelled. They also demanded an investigation into the health centre's appointments, and the immediate payment of their salaries, bac-dated to November 2015.