Salmaniya Medical Complex nurses claim they were told to 'wait just 8 years' for payment dues

TDT | Manama                                                             

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Nearly 120 expatriate nurses, the majority employed with Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC)'s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are pleading with authorities to get paid their dues which accumulated after working on 300 to 350 days of holidays. According to them, the amount piled up after working continuosly on national holidays and attending emergency call duties for several years. Call duties are assignments tasked on holidays owing to the emergency requirements.

“We have been pitching our appeals before many higher officials here. But until now, no solution has been found and we continue to accumulate due offs,” a source told The Daily Tribune. There are about 120 expatriate nurses working with the ‘Special Baby Care Unit’ of Salmaniya Medical Complex, the sources say, adding that almost all of them have "face this due off ordeal."

“The difficult point comes when someone wants to resign from the job. It is not that we don’t have trust in our employer; we have great trust in our employer and we are extremely thankful for employing us and giving us this great opportunity.

“But, it will be a great relief if our ‘due offs’ are settled. Most of us have elderly parents and other family issues to attend to back home and hence can’t predict as to how long we could continue over here.” The source pointed out that no guarantees have been received from the part of higher authorities until now. “One official we approached asked us to wait until it gets resolved. We were told that it might take a few more years to resolve.

But how could we wait that long?” the source lamented. “We have made repeated representations before the higher officials and we feel they have been continuously ignored. We took up assignments on off days as there are not enough experienced staff to handle the situation.

“Generally, the due off is settled along with ‘end of employment payments’ when a staff resigns. But now we are asked to wait until a solution is found. We plead before the authorities concerned to implement the previous system with immediate effect so that we don’t continue to suffer from this ordeal.”

The source said that one of her colleagues was even asked to wait until 2030 to obtain all the payments related to due offs. “Young nurses would love to take up opportunities in Western countries while aged nurses are seeking retirement after serving the Kingdom’s healthcare sector for at least over 20 years.

No one seems to be in a position to wait for these pending payments.” The Health Ministry officials could not be reached for comment. The Daily Tribune earlier reported that “no Bahraini nurses are unemployed currently and hence there is no waiting list for them to enter the healthcare sector”.

This was out of Labour Ministry data findings. Nursing education’s mission in the Kingdom is consistent with the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 as well as with Bahrain’s Health Strategy, which aims to develop highly skilled healthcare professionals and improve the delivery of quality healthcare.