PRESIDENT Dr. Irfaan Ali has announced that the government will take a closer look at the abuse of sick leave and absenteeism in the public service, addressing it as a critical issue impacting the efficiency of government service delivery at the community level.

In a meeting with regional executive officers, regional health officers, and regional education officers from across the country, Dr. Ali on Tuesday emphasised that addressing these challenges is key to improving productivity in the public sector.

“We have been able to look at the structural issues, the human resource challenges,” Dr. Ali stated adding, “They themselves also spoke about indiscipline within the system, absenteeism from work.”

The President noted that absenteeism, particularly among key and critical staff, has been exacerbated by the misuse of sick leave provisions. He pointed out that some employees have been exploiting the system.

“The abuse of sick leave and private doctors being used in the process of aiding this abuse of sick leave, especially for key and critical staff…and they’ve asked that strong measures be recommended because this affects productivity and efficiency in the delivery of service,” he said.

Already, he noted the government has a clear strategy outlined and persons will be held accountable for how service is delivered to the populace.

The strategy includes ensuring every member of the population has access to world-class education and health services.

“We want to reduce the costs of people receiving government business, reduce the time it takes them to receive government service, and improve the quality and delivery of that service. And that is being more direct, being more approachable, creating a more customer-oriented environment, and ensuring that all the investments that we are making deliver at the optimum level,” Dr. Ali said.

The Head of State added: “We have been making tremendous investments to improve the lives of our people, and its key and it is key that bureaucracy or people does not form an impediment in service delivery.”
He also acknowledged the challenges in regard to efficient infrastructure, training, and supply management.

Dr. Ali said: “What we really sought to achieve today was finding the formula that would fix existing issues, the inefficiencies in the system, whether it’s the small issues like washroom sanitation issues within health centres, health outposts, schools, or whether there were structural issues of changing the system to make it more people centre and people oriented.”

He added: “We [are] focused on fixing what needs to be fixed. We had a full discourse on all the gap that exists.”

Solutions proposed include decentralising medical supply management, implementing a quality assurance body, and ensuring continuous support through health centres.