A new order issued by the Libyan Presidential Council (PC) has been described by observers as ‘a new failure in the PC’s handling of the state’s finances.’
The PC issued Tuesday an order to raise the salaries of doctors and medical personnel so that the new medical faculty graduates can receive a salary of maximum 6300 Libyan dinars, while dentists can receive between 1900 and 6200 dinars.
The order also says that the paramedics can receive salaries between 1000 and 5600 dinars as the maximum salary would be 6100 dinars.
Observers on Libya’s local affairs have expressed dismay at the ‘unstudied decision’ as they could have resorted to details in a recent report for the Libyan Audit Bureau, which documented several violations at the Health Ministry including unemployment and mismanagement, hence; referring to some employees getting salaries without working for it or without quality work.
Meanwhile, the Libyan Organization for Policies and Strategies said in its recent report that the administrative division of the health sector saw recruitments of about 107% of the real needs of the sector, documenting 22.4 recruitments of persons whose data doesn’t match the Libyan National Identity Number System’s database, let alone 7300 cases of dual job status.
The organization also said that Libayns spend 5 billion dinars on medical treatment in neighboring countries every year, which refers to the fact that the Libyan health sector needs renovation in education, administration, and infrastructure before taking decisions that add burdens on the ailing budget of the country.
Libya spent in 2018 23.6 billion dinars as salaries of state employees, including health sector, while in 2017, the health ministry received 9% of the budget which was worth 3.5 billion dinars, out of which 67% was used.
Such details should have compelled the PC and the health ministry to go over the database before taking new measures that would squander the Libyan public funds.
