Healthcare workers have been given the green light for overtime payments for January, Medical Superintendent Dr Luke Nasedra confirmed, marking the first tangible movement on a backlog of claims that Health Minister Dr Atonio Lalabalavu has previously said totalled about $1.7 million for the period January to March.
Dr Nasedra told reporters the approval to pay January overtime was reached at a meeting held last week. “From the initiation meeting last week, the nurses, including the healthcare workers have received approval of overtime payment for January,” he said, signalling that at least one month of delayed claims will be processed following months of staffing pressures and budget constraints.
Assistant Health Minister Penioni Ravunawa said the ministry is still reviewing approved but unpaid overtime claims for February and March, and expects a decision by the end of this month. His statement underlines that while January payments have been cleared, many workers remain uncertain about when the remaining arrears will be settled.
Dr Lalabalavu has already flagged the scale of the problem to Parliament, saying health workers were owed about $1.7 million in unpaid overtime for January to March because some units had exhausted their allocations. The ministry decentralised its overtime budget across 14 cost centres — overseen by heads such as medical superintendents and divisional medical officers — and Dr Lalabalavu said eight of those cost centres had already run out of funds for overtime.
The overtime allocation for established staff and government wage earners stood at $7.5 million, but expenditure up to the latest pay period had reached roughly $9.9 million, creating an overspend of about $2.4 million. That fiscal gap is the principal reason given by officials for the staggered approval and payment of overtime claims, and explains why February and March claims are still under review.
To manage costs and staff fatigue, the Health Ministry has introduced a policy allowing health workers to take time-off in lieu instead of receiving overtime pay. Officials portray the measure as part of broader efforts to stretch limited funds while maintaining services, but unions and some clinicians have previously warned that time-off in lieu cannot fully compensate for lost earnings nor address long-term staffing shortfalls.
The approval for January payments is the latest development in a months-long issue that has affected morale among frontline staff during a period of increased demand. With a decision on February and March claims expected this month, the ministry faces pressure to balance immediate worker entitlements with overall budget constraints, even as the government has recently committed significant funding to the health sector in its wider budget allocations.