Ministry of Health (M.O.H.) workers who illegally claimed overtime have been issued warning letters, the Samoa Observer can reveal.

The discovery of the workers’ illegal conduct within the M.O.H. came to light following a decision by the Director General to order a pre-audit of overtime claims and the payroll every pay week. 

In response to questions from this newspaper, Aiono Dr. Alec Ekeroma explained that there was no audit of the Ministry's payroll for the last four years. 

"But we noticed that there were a lot of people who were claiming overtime when they are not supposed to be getting overtime or were working overtime," Aiono said. 

"Some claimed that they worked overtime when they were at home, while some were claiming overtime from Savai'i, while they were in Apia and not working as they claim, so we found that kind of problem during the audit."

Aiono then said that they were able to identify "some" of the people who were wrongfully claiming overtime which they were not entitled to. 

"When we identified them, I sent them warning letters. Those letters are different from the Public Service Commission's warning letters. There's a different process involved with issuing those letters from P.S.C. 

"The letters I've sent out are just slapping them on the hand and asking them not to do the same mistake again. If they repeat the same mistake, we will escalate it to P.S.C. and refer the matter to them. But at this stage, we haven't taken up this issue with P.S.C."

The P.S.C. Chair, Nonu Lemauga Saleimoa Vaai agreed that the C.E.O. had the discretion to warn his staff and issue warning letters. However, he said once a staff member breaches the code of conduct and ethics under P.S.C. they will get involved and take up the matter. 

The Director General said there have been complaints from the staff following the issuing of the warning letters. The decision to pre-audit overtime claims and M.O.H. payroll was formalised in February this year after it was discovered that the Ministry spent close to SAT$1 million fortnightly on overtime payments.

“At the N.U.S. [National University of Samoa], the whole payroll is pre-audited without a delay in paying staff,” Aiono said when he responded to questions from the Samoa Observer at the time. 

“There is some work needed in M.O.H. human resources to make sure the paperwork is provided to the auditors on time so staff are paid their overtime on time. 

“The pre-audit is needed because the external auditors in their report for the 2021-2022 year identified widespread malpractice in approving, claiming, and payment of overtime.” 

He confirmed that the Ministry spends close to $1 million fortnightly on overtime payments and noted that the Public Service Commission (P.S.C.) guidelines on overtime claims were not observed by many staff. 

He said both doctors and nurses are also subject to the same scrutiny in relation to overtime claims as anyone else in the service. 

“The overtime claims are being audited before payment – they are not denied – if they are within the guidelines and approved process," added the Health Director General.

“Approved overtime payments for this payday will be paid in the next payday.” 

According to the M.O.H. website, there are currently 120 doctors and 352 registered nurses working in 11 hospitals with the total number of working staff standing at 1,455.