No OSD for ECape health workers

2009-11-09 18:06

Johannesburg - Nearly 800 health workers in the Eastern Cape have not received their occupation specific dispensation (OSD) due to a "technical error", a provincial health spokesperson said on Monday.

"We have picked up that about 798 employees have been excluded from these payments due to technical errors. This matter is now being corrected," Sizwe Kupelo said.

"Those who were most affected are doctors, pharmacists and emergency workers who were supposed to receive a once-off 5% OSD payment last month."

Kupelo declined to give details on how the technical error occurred, but said authorities were in the process of fixing the mistake.

"The matter is receiving urgent attention."

The OSD is a revised salary scale for health workers that takes experience into account.

Earlier this year, some hospitals were crippled when doctors, nursing staff and emergency workers embarked on a countrywide strike to highlight problems in the public health system and press for better wages.
 

- SAPA