22 Dec 2005

Samoa to budget nearly US$5m extra for health sector

9:44 am on 22 December 2005

It's emerged that Samoa's Minister of Finance, Misa Telefoni, has presented a supplementary budget of nearly US$9 million for the current financial year.

The budget was presented on Tuesday during the last sitting of Parliament before next year's general election.

The biggest chunk of the bill, US$4.7m, has been allocated to the Ministry of Health.

Nearly US$2m will be used to pay outstanding commitments such as salaries of nurses attaining higher qualifications, shift allowances for doctors, medicine and food supplies for the hospital.

Also included in the amount for health is US$110,000 for salary adjustments for doctors and US$290,000 for relieving doctors.

At least three government doctors have returned to work this week after they resigned following a strike for better salaries for entry-level doctors.