Unprecedented Pay Rise For All Health Professionals

DOCTORS TO EARN FROM ?9M ? ?40M A MONTH

NURSES, PHARMACISTS, ETC. GET HUGE PAY RISE

Figures available to The Statesman indicate that Ghanaian health professionals are about to receive a record rise in salaries across board. Coming on top of the 20 percent across-board increment in other public sector workers this year, this new pay level for the health sector will see the average nurse seeing his or her monthly pay increased from about ?1.2m to ?6m.

The increments, which take effect from June, will also see top pharmacists in the public sector earning in excess of ?18m a month.

But, the biggest rise of all go to those at the top of the health sector: doctors. The lowest paid medical officer (Level 14A), those on housemanship, will see their monthly pay shoot up to ?9m. Under the old scheme, the basic salary was ?2.1m (?1.6m net), plus ?3m of Additional Duty Hours Allowance making it ?4.7m.

But, under the new salary scales for the public health sector professionals, this will see specialists (20D) seeing their monthly pay range from ?20m (for the newly qualified) to ?39.2m.

To break it down, a senior specialist will now earn from a scale of ?23m, ?26m, to ?31m. Those at the directorate level will earn between ?33m cedis and ?40m. Further more, a medical officer, with about two years? experience can now expect to go home with ?11m. Under the old pay structure, the same doctor earned about ?6.8m in total.

A senior medical officer (17F) will now enjoy an almost double increase in pay from ?8.6m to ?15.3m.

A principal medical officer (20B) can now take home ?18m ? a near 100 percent rise from the previous ?9.9m.

The new structure was fixed by the institutions within the health sector with the help of consultants, after Government assured them that they had an annual salary budget of ?2.4 trillion with which to reconfigure the pay structure of health professionals.

That exercise, which started after the ADHA was abolished last year, was not completed and submitted to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning before May 30, 2006, making it impossible for the arrears on ADHA since January to be paid.

In the final analysis, the total annual quantum of pay for the over 40,000 health workers will now stand at ?2.3 trillion, a figure Deputy Minister of Finance, Anthony Akoto Osei tells The Statesman, is well within the expenditure regime of the national budget.

The difficulty, however, was over the six months ADHA arrears, which stand at ?400bn. The doctors wanted all that amount paid this month. That would have been on top of the total monthly pay package of ?192.7bn for the health workers. But, last Wednesday President John Agyekum Kufuor met representatives of the health workers at his residence before flying abroad. At that meeting, it was agreed that one third of the ?400bn owed must be added to the June payroll. Government even went as far as to request commercial banks to advance up to one month?s salary of the new levels for those health workers who are in serious need of money.

But, sources within the Controller and Accountant-General and the Ghana Medical Association itself hinted to us that the doctors were so overwhelmed by the size of the new pay structure that they feared it would not be honoured. Hence, the recalcitrant stance to have all the arrears paid this month, in spite of the President?s plea that it would cause cash-flow problems for the exchequer.

The Controller and Accountant-General has been tasked to take the necessary action to ensure the swift implementation of the processing of the pay roll. There are moves to also accommodate the realistic pay requirements of education workers, as well. However, Government has demonstrated this year that the patience of Ghanaians for macro-economic stability can only be rewarded by giving back the gains to the Ghanaian worker.

Another typical example, is the abolishing of income tax on a larger pool of those on the lower scale of the wage ladder.

Moreover, last month Government announced a 20 percent across-board salary increase of all other public sector workers, taking effect from January 2006. These have all taken the take-home pay of workers in Ghana to record highs. In both real and nominal terms, the minimum wage a Ghanaian worker takes home today is at least three times its January 2001 value. This was achieved by a combination of tax reliefs and successive increments in both the minimum wage and general wages.

?On the whole, the purchasing power of salaried workers in Ghana has improved remarkably under the current administration,? observed The Accra Daily Mail last month.

Read below the ADM?s analysis:

?In January 2001 when the NPP administration took over, the minimum wage was ?4200 per day. Considering the tax regime at the time, this was subject to a tax deduction of ?23. Thus, the minimum take-home wage was ?4177 or 0.6 of a dollar at the time; consumer price index was 191.23.

?At the moment, the minimum wage has been increased to ?16 000 per day with effect from January this year. Also with effect from January 2006, income tax on this minimum wage has been abolished completely. That is to say, a worker who earns the minimum wage takes the entire wage home. So, the minimum take-home wage now is ?16 000 or $1.8; consumer price index for March 2006 (most recent release) is 437.47

?The minimum take-home wage of the Ghanaian worker, in nominal cedi terms, has increased from ?4 177 to ?16 000 (283% rise, almost three-fold increase) under this government. That is, the January 2001 figure has almost quadrupled. ?From the consumer price indices, inflation over this period has been 129 percent. Hence, real increase in take-home minimum wage has been 154 percent, one-and-half-fold increase, or more than two-and-half-fold its January 2001 value.

?In dollar terms, the 0.6 of a dollar inherited by the present government has risen to $1.8 (200 percent rise, double-fold increase), or that is thrice its January 2001 value.

?Additionally, every tax-free threshold was adjusted upwards in this year's budget statement. So with the recent 20 percent salary increase, the real values of workers' salaries have hit a record high. By these reliefs and salary increases, the objective of government is to put more money in the pockets of Ghanaians.

?The Trades Union Congress (TUC) in a report commissioned on ?Public Sector Wages in Ghana: Levels. Trends & Relativities? has conceded some ?significant changes in public sector wages between 2000 and 2005. Basic salary in the public sector was below one US dollar-a-day between 2000 and 2002.?

?The same report explains further: ?The basic salary in the public sector was only $17 per month in 2000. It increased to $22 per month in 2001 and to $24 in 2002. It reached the one-dollar-a-day benchmark in 2003 and increased to $41 per month in 2005. Thus, between 2000 and 2005, the nominal value of the basic public sector wage on the GUSS increased (in US dollars terms) by 141 percent. The public sector wage did not only increase in nominal terms but also in real terms; when it is adjusted for inflation using the annual average CPI. The index of real basic and maximum public sector wages increased by 28 and 29 percent respectively between 2000 and 2005 (2000=100).??