As another major holiday draws near, Verney Benjamin, a nurse employed at the Kumaka District Hospital in Region One who has been unpaid for 9 months, is still hoping that she will be paid soon following renewed promises from the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Last week Benjamin spoke with this publication and explained her plight. Since the story’s publication, she said, she has been contacted by several persons, including from the MOH. On Friday she was informed that she will be on January’s payroll and will also be paid for all the months that she had worked.
However, Benjamin remains skeptical. These promises, she said, are nothing new for she had been hearing them for months now. She said she will only feel satisfied when the money is in her account.
Since the article was published too, she was told that at least one person at the hospital believed that any future sick leave should be rejected because it was her place to be at work. Benjamin, who is currently on sick leave, will not return to work until the new year.
Expressing hurt and anger at this, Benjamin said no one else was in her shoes and could not therefore understand how it felt to be unpaid for 9 months. Despite the adversity, she added, she is trying to remain positive.
When asked how she spent Christmas she said that it was an ordinary day. She said she felt bad because normally at Christmas she would buy gifts for her family and some items for the home but she was unable to do this year. “I had a boring Christmas Day and it seems like I will have a boring New Year’s as well,” she added.
Benjamin, who has been employed at the hospital since April 20, had presented all of the relevant documents including her ID, TIN, and bank account number.
She had also been given an official letter of employment from the hospital. Benjamin who has a 4-year-old daughter, lives with her mother who is a housewife, her father who is a farmer, and her 16-year-old brother who is currently preparing for his CSEC examinations next year. She has had to resort to borrowing money to do simple things such as eat and travel. She is yet to repay the persons she borrowed money from.
