Fight dengue, forget salaries!

Hundreds of staffers hired to fight dengue in various districts have been facing a salary delay of one month, belying the tall claims of the Punjab government which is currently using its full muscle to fight the deadly epidemic which severely hit the most populous province last year, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The Punjab government, in the wake of the deadly epidemic last year, gave a go-ahead to hire staffers including Lady Health Workers (LHWs), Sanitary Patrol, CDC supervisors, Data entry operators, entomologists and environmental inspectors all on contract basis.
The plan was initially approved for five districts: Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala, considering the incidence of the disease in these areas. The project was later revised and six more districts were included but the PC-1 is yet to be approved.
The government earmarked Rs 300 million for the preventive disease program for the ongoing fiscal year. However, sources privy to the development have revealed that the government has only released Rs 20 million out of the total amount so far, causing not only salary delays, but halting “crucial” purchases as well. “The monthly salary bill for the entire dengue staff [in five districts] is Rs 20.5 million, while the government has released only Rs 20 million,” the official said, adding that even the salary for July was given only a few days ago, while the staffers’ wait for August and September salaries has already begun.
FRUSTRATED STAFF BEING EMOTIONALLY BLACKMAILED:
One of the health executive district officers (EDO) told Pakistan Today that the situation had become very difficult to manage because the entire staff was working at low salaries already and this coupled with delays worsened the situation. “We try to motivate the staffers to work for the sake of humanity, but it is not working now and the staffers are getting agitated since their jobs are not that well-paying either,” the EDO added.
A meeting of all health EDOs of Punjab was also held at the DG health office on Monday. Insiders further told Pakistan Today that the EDOs of concerned districts shared the ‘frustration’ of the staff on salary delays. They also expressed their concern for the priorities of the Punjab government which was spending billions on building infrastructure, but was ignoring vital epidemic management.
Another senior official further told the scribe about efforts that were being made by the epidemic control officials to get the salaries released on time. “The Finance Department officials tell us the government does not have money but we cannot pass this message on to workers busy fighting dengue,” he added.
CM’s advisor on Health Khwaja Salman Rafique said the delay has come to his notice only now and he will check it with the authorities concerned. “Rest assured whoever is working to fight dengue will be given his or her salaries,” he added.
We try to motivate the staffers to work for the sake of humanity, but it is not working now and the staffers are getting agitated since their jobs are not that well-paying either,”