Health Ministry diverted funds to cover staff overtime

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services diverted funds from other healthcare programmes to cover staff overtime during the last financial year, says Assistant Minister for Health Penioni Ravunawa.

Mr Ravunawa said the ministry recorded a sharp increase in overtime payments for nurses and other medical staff.

“We saw an enormous rise in overtime payments in the last financial year, which ended yesterday, and that was worrying,” he said.

While he was unable to disclose the amount spent, Mr Ravunawa described the overtime bill as "very significant."

“We had to do a lot of virement of funds from other programmes to pay overtime. That is why we are concerned.”

He said concerns over the management of overtime had prompted the ministry to strengthen its systems and approval processes.

“Anyone who wanted to do overtime, will stand in and do overtime. For better use of taxpayers’ funds, we need a verification process. We need good governance at every level, which is why we are asking supervisors to determine whether overtime is necessary.”

Mr Ravunawa said the ministry's various cost centres managed their own budgets and submitted quarterly reports to the head of Finance.