The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH Minister Dr Duane Sands yesterday said the Public Hospital Authority’s $1.2m monthly overtime bill could not continue “unchecked” as he defended the forecasted slowdown in overtime payments for healthcare workers.

Dr Sands stressed all commitments to overtime pay would be honoured; however, he suggested the timely release of those payments would depend on central government.

An internal PHA memo, which was leaked, advised that overtime assigned and incurred from February onward will be paid “subject to the availability of funding”.

Dr Sands said: “The intention is to be able to operate the PHA as efficiently as possible making sure you’re paying all your bills etc but bear in mind that we are part of a financial chain and that financial chain is a part of central government, that is responding to the demand on all of its agencies as well as revenues. So if people aren’t paying real property tax, VAT etc then the Ministry of Finance is unable to pay its commitments in a timely fashion.”

He added: “That hasn’t been a problem but the principal is, that it is the receipts that you get that determines how promptly you pay your bills.”

The PHA has already exceeded its $4m overtime budget for all facilities and respective agencies by $2m, according to Dr Sands, who confirmed the shift in policy would impact overtime assigned in February onward.

The policy shift impacting approved and incurred overtime and sessional workers was also outlined in the PHA memo, which noted the bloated overtime costs put the authority in a “precarious financial position”.

Dr Sands acknowledged the shortage of highly skilled staff but insisted the organisation could not be allowed to continue to “rack up expenses with no regard as to how they are going to be paid”.

He added: “That has been the way it’s been historically.”

The PHA memo confirmed overtime pay earned in December and January will be paid the following months respectively.

“At no point in time,” Dr Sands said, “that’s against the law, unless you in the United States during government shutdown, people are not going to be expected to work without being paid.

“We are going to have to ensure we are prudent stewards of the public purse and do whatever we can to safely contain public expenditure.”

This week, the Nassau Guardian reported that the Bahamas Public Services Union has advised PHA employees to not work overtime shifts in light of the funding issues.

“We’re advising them to not work the overtime unless it’s consistent with what our agreement says,” BPSU President Kimsley Ferguson told the daily.

He added: “It was clear what their note said. It said that overtime will be paid based on the availability of funding. They may have some funding in June. They may have some funding in December, and so persons may work overtime in February and [not] get it until December. So ‘consistent with our agreement’ means you work February, [and] you get paid at the end of March.”