Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Eswatini Nazarene Health Institutions Acting CEO Dr Raymond Bitchong says when government was approached about the financial crisis, they allegedly did not receive assistance.
The acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) submitted that to address its serious financial plight, the institution approached government for an urgent financial relief. He alleged that the assistance was not forthcoming. He argued that the only remedy, therefore, was to consider ways and means of reducing costs as a precursor to a possible retrenchment and ultimate cessation. “This is what prompted the respondent’s management to consider restructuring the hospital and identifying items that were of high cost. Having formulated a strategy of keeping the doors open and providing primary medical care to the large population of Manzini, the respondent then began a process of consulting with the various stakeholders on possible reforms that could alleviate the budget deficit. “The first formal consultation (I term this formal because prior to that, there had been a plethora of consultations on the respondent’s precarious financial situation and this was now common knowledge throughout the organisation) took place on June 19 and 20, 2023.
“These consultations took the form of town-hall style consultations, wherein the acting chief executive officer addressed all departments within the organisation, advising them of the critical cash flow situation which constitutes an existential crisis,” added Dr Bitchong. He submitted that in addition to the town-hall consultations with all employees and having met other stakeholders (employee representatives), the acting CEO met with the leadership of union for purposes of consultation on the measures that were being proposed to address the financial crisis and to find optimal solutions. He said the approach was to mitigate risk by invoking certain cost-cutting measures. Dr Bitchong informed the court that one of the tabled key cost-cutting measures was the issue of the on-call allowance. He said this was a major cost item, which was costing the organisation an amount of approximately E20 million per annum. He alleged that at the conclusion of the meeting, the union was given an opportunity to consider the various proposals and to make representations in response. A follow-up meeting involving all medical and allied staff that the applicant represents, according to Dr Bitchong, was convened on June 23, 2023, wherein they were accorded the opportunity to propose measures to address the current financial crisis.
Proposals
The acting CEO alleged that one of the proposals that were made by the medical and allied staff at the meeting was the establishment of a task team to address the proposed reforms, inclusive of the on-call allowance. He averred that the task team was representative of all medical and allied healthcare staff, who benefitted from the on-call allowance and was led by Dr Sydney Mkhize. The Dr Bitchong further informed the court that the task team met with the respondent on June 26, to discuss various on-call adjustments and to present its proposals on the on-call allowance and concluded with a memorandum from the task team to the acting CEO on the same date. He informed the court that the proposals by the task team were by-and-large unworkable, but there were some positives which required further engagement. By this time, according to Dr Bitchong, it had become apparent that there was no hope of a bailout from government.
For More News And Analysis About Eswatini Follow Africa-Press
