The management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital(KBTH) has stated that the call by a section of staff for rent being deducted for residing in hospital residential accommodation to be stopped is against the long-standing government policy that requires that any worker who lives in government accommodation pays 10% of his or her salary as rent.
According to KBTH, although the policy has always been maintained and implemented by the Hospital, staff movement and transfers have created lapses in the system that enabled some staff to escape the payment of rent as required by law.
“The attention of the Hospital Administration has been drawn to a call by a section of staff for rent being deducted for residing in hospital residential accommodation to be stopped. This demand is against the long-standing government policy that requires that any worker who lives in government accommodation pays 10% of his or her salary as rent,” KBTH stated.
The Concerned residents and staff of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital who occupy the health facility’s accommodation unit earlier demanded an immediate halt in the deduction of ten percent rent allowance from their basic salaries before the end of the week.
According to the group, the deductions which started in June 2020 do not commensurate with the housing units they reside in.
They demanded that the charges must be reviewed as soon as possible, saying that the deduction was not a fair treatment and tabled their demands to the management of the hospital.
But reacting to the calls in a statement, the hospital explained that this non-payment of rent became a subject of audit query which compelled Management to conduct an inventory into its estate resources.
Through this exercise, KBTH said it became palpably clear that many of these accommodation units had fallen into the state of disrepair and required urgent renovation and maintenance.
“In view of the huge quantum of resources required for the rehabilitation, Management applied and secured approval to channel the rent deducted from occupants of our housing units into the rehabilitation of the rundown housing stock.
While some occupants were in default of rent payment for more than five years, the rent deduction which was now being implemented in accordance to the accommodation policy did not take retroactive effect. In fact, an amnesty was granted to all such defaulters,” KBTH explained.
Meanwhile, the KBTH said in preparation for the planned rehabilitation of the rundown accommodation units, a schedule was drawn to renovate all the accommodation units in phases.
It added that while a lot of staff were excited about the planned renovation, a handful of rent defaulters raised objections against the deductions.
“They subsequently petitioned for the rent deductions to be stopped,” KBTH stated.
However, it noted that that the authority to stop the deduction does not lie within the mandate of the Hospital Administration, but an understanding was reached and Management decided to refund the deductions and about four batches of the affected staff have already received their refunds.
The hospital Administration has therefore urged all staff to exercise maximum restraint and be confident that the Hospital Administration will only take decisions that will inure to the benefit of its cherished staff.
“Management runs an open-door policy and any staff who feels aggrieved is encouraged to contact and engage Management to address any issues that border them,” KBTH added.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
