Nurses want Govt to implement awards

By LULU MARK
NURSES in Port Moresby and Lae are taking part in a protest demanding that the Government implement the industrial awards of 2021-2023 before the year ends.
Nurses from the Port Moresby General Hospital, Laloki Psychiatric Hospital and the National Capital District Health Authority gathered at the Papua New Guinea Nurses Association (PNGNA) headquarters yesterday for the protest. Momase Nurses Association regional president Siling Awasa told The National that nurses in Lae were also protesting and the health authorities there needed to come up with a roster for non-members.
PNGNA president Frederick Kebai said the awards needed to be implemented in full and backdated to January this year.
He said the nurses would continue the protest until the Government informed them when their outstanding awards would take effect.
The two important parts of the awards were the risk and insurance allowance which should be prioritised because of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) surges.
“We want written responses. We want the secretary for Health and Department of Personnel Management (DPM) to tell us when our awards will be implemented,” he said.
Kebai said the hold-up in implementing the awards was with the Health Department and DPM who were supposed to present the nurses’ case to the Finance Department.
Kebai said the protest was legal and chief executive officers of hospitals and provincial health authorities should not threaten disciplinary action on the nurses who were joining the protest.