Twic East county health director suspended

December 2, 2015 (BOR) – The health director in Twic East county of South Sudan’s Jonglei state, James Magook has been suspended.

The county commissioner, Dau Akoi said Magook’s suspension came in the wake of a petition letter, in which health workers accused him of absenteeism and failure to voice their complaints on time.

“Magook absent himself for so long from his office in the county. He never visited hospital for quite a long time. A lot of problems had occurred in hospital including issues of payment, but he wasn’t there to address them or inform me about them”, Akoi told Sudan Tribune Wednesday.

“So when the staff wrote the petition letter, I was given the copy as I waited for him to appear in the county. When he came, I gave him the letter and asked him to stay away, waiting for investigation to clear himself from a number of accusations labeled against him by the staff”, he added.

Meanwhile Twic East county authorities urged Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA) to complete payment of salaries for 122 staff by end of year.

Akoi said IMA had not paid the salaries of its staff since July this year. The unexpected delays reportedly contributed to slowing hospital operation and coordination work.

“The lack of salaries for these staff affected the hospital so much. They had not been able to support their families as expected. So they had not been doing their duties regularly. When I discovered the problem, I went in myself to investigate the matter. Then I asked IMA to explain the failure to these staff but no satisfactory answer was given”, he said.

But IMA’s director, Mounir Lado said shortage of hard currencies as staff demanded payment in dollars, contributed to delay in salary settlements.

“Previously, we used to pay our staff in local currency. We are supporting many health facilities in Upper Nile region. We are supporting some of these health facilities directly and some through other partners. Care International was one such organisation working in Twic East, but they quit in June this year”, Lado said by phone.

The salaries, he said, were sent in two phases due to insecurity in handling funds, adding that the next two months salaries for IMA staff would be sent shortly.

(ST)