The regime will be paid in October.
Regarding the case of a group of school health workers (SHWs) in Tay Son district (Binh Dinh) who have been petitioning for their rights for more than ten years without success, Mr. Phan Chi Hung - Chairman of the People's Committee of Tay Son district - said that after meeting with 50 principals and related departments, the district has agreed on a plan to resolve the regime for SHWs.
"Through the meeting, the district and schools agreed on the allowance level for health workers at 20%, to be paid from January 1, 2024, from regular expenditure funds.
Based on the 20% level, schools will calculate the specific amount for each SHW, then the district will summarize and report to the province. The payment of benefits for SHW must be completed this October," said Mr. Hung.
Speaking with Lao Dong, Mr. Vo Ngoc Khanh - Head of the Tay Son District Education and Training Division - said that after agreeing on the 20% support level for SHW, the principals will decide on the payment regime. The budget to pay for 44 SHW (staff) this year is expected to be about 500 million VND.
Late payment of benefits, the responsibility belongs to the principal
After Lao Dong Newspaper stepped in to help, up to now, the collective of medical workers in Tay Son district has reclaimed their legitimate rights. However, to make their joy complete, the collective of SHW hopes to receive back all the benefits that they have been forgotten for over ten years.
Responding to this issue, Mr. Phan Chi Hung said that regarding the proposal to collect the previous years' allowances for SHW, the district is directing units to prepare a report to submit and ask for the opinion of the Provincial People's Committee. Waiting for the province's approval and budget allocation, the locality will proceed with the payment immediately.
Mr. Vo Ngoc Khanh said that since 2009, the Department of Education and Training has assigned school principals autonomy and self-responsibility. Therefore, the time to implement the allowance regime according to Decree No. 56/2011/ND-CP dated July 4, 2011, is the responsibility of the principals.
According to Mr. Khanh, the decision to pay or not to pay the allowance is up to the principal, the Finance Department and the District Education and Training Department only approve the final accounts for the schools. The principals all want to pay the allowance to the SHW, but because they do not fully understand the decree, they do not dare to pay.
During the implementation of the decree, principals encountered difficulties but did not report or ask for advice from higher levels to resolve the problems, leading to prolonged problems and failure to resolve the policies for SHW.
"In yesterday's meeting, I criticized and reminded the principals about this," Mr. Khanh said.
13 years of being neglected
Sending a petition to Lao Dong Newspaper, the collective of medical staff in Tay Son district stated that according to Decree No. 56/2011/ND-CP dated July 4, 2011, it is within the Government regulating preferential allowances according to profession for civil servants and public employees at public medical facilities, SHW is entitled to no more than 20% of the current salary scale and grade.
The level of preferential allowances according to profession will be considered and decided by the school principal. The source of funding for implementing the allowance regime is guaranteed by the state budget according to decentralization, the revenue of health facilities from career activities and other legal sources of funding.
The Decree was issued as a practical encouragement for civil servants and public employees at public health facilities nationwide. However, it is different for the collective of health workers in Tay Son district. Over the past 13 years, they have not once enjoyed this legitimate regime, despite having sent many complaints.
