Fifteen health workers, including a doctor working at the District Hospital Parbat, have not been paid for the last five months.
The salaries of health workers and staffs hired on a contractual basis at the hospital have been suspended since January 2021.
Such a situation has arisen due to the lack of coordination between the District Hospital Management Committee and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Govinda Pahadi, the chairperson of the Parbat Hospital Management Committee, said that there was a problem as the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General did not approve the current transaction operation of the account in the name of the hospital management committee.
He added that the hospital was in trouble when the operation of the hospital’s account was suddenly stopped at a time when the Covid-19 infection was at a peak.
Dr. Divee Chhetri of Parbat Hospital complained that they have not been paid for a long time due to the misunderstanding between the hospital management committee, hospital administration, and Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
As the account of Parbat Hospital has been operating according to the hospital’s own system and the decision of the committee, the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General has not given permission to operate the account in the name of the committee saying that it should be shifted to TSA system.
Chief of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mohan Sharan Bhandari, said that the government of Nepal has not been able to approve the operation of the account as it has been operating under the current transaction account.
The doctors, health workers, and employees who are on contract under various programs run at Parbat Hospital have not received their salaries.
Chief District Officer at the District Administration Office, Parbat, Devi Pandey Khatri, said that coordination was being made between the hospital management committee and Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General to immediately pay the withheld salaries to the health workers and employees.