By Baraka John
Health centers in Nagero County are facing a severe crisis after medical staff in the area decided to stop working, citing prolonged delays in the payment of salaries and incentives. The move has left many health facilities in the county without staff, thereby compromising healthcare services for residents in desperate need of medical attention.
In a phone interview with King Media on Monday morning, Martin Karmilo, the Clinical Officer at Nagero Primary Health Care Center, shared the dire financial struggles facing health workers. Karmilo revealed that health staff in Nagero have not been paid by the government for the past 16 months, and they have not received their incentives for the last six months, despite other counties receiving theirs. The financial strain has made it impossible for the workers to sustain their families or meet essential expenses.
“Heath staff across Nagero County last Friday they already laid down the tools because they spent sixteen months without salary from the government side. We are coming tomorrow [Tuesday] to six months no incentive. Meanwhile, all the counties already received their incentives despite Nagero alone, which has been left up to now, no incentive, even no nothing”. Karmilio stated
Lauro Nathaniel Francis, the Health Director for Nagero County, described the situation as tense. He highlighted the plight of patients who are arriving at health centers but are unable to receive care due to the absence of medical staff. The county is also struggling with the absence of an ambulance, making it difficult to transport patients in emergency situations to nearby health facilities.
“The situation remains tense, as I told you; the fact remains that all the patients are coming, but no single health worker is attending to them. Otherwise, the fact remains on the ground; even for all these, we don’t have an Ambulance which we can refer the emergency situation to a nearby facility or a passway referral to Tombura”. Lauro asserted
Honorable James Adballah Arona, the Minister of Health for Western Equatoria State, addressed the issue, stating that the South Sudan Ministry of Health is working to resolve the payment delays. Arona explained that the delay in payments was due to logistical challenges, particularly the insecurity along the road between Tombura and Nagero. He also added that health workers in Tombura were supposed to report back before payments could be made to Nagero health workers.
“The delay was from the agency, they instructed the agency to go and pay the health staff in Tombura, which was supposed to report back, and they will be given money so that they can go to pay the health staff in Tombura. But because of rumors and allegations that the way between Tombura and Nagero is not good, that is why they dodged”. James disclosed
Lauro Nathaniel Francis, the Health Director for Nagero County, said Nagero County’s health crisis highlights the urgent need for reliable and timely payments for health workers, especially in remote regions where access to healthcare is already limited.