| And with renovations in the works, the Lab Techs at CML are wondering if there will be a salary adjustment to go with it. Last year, pharmacists received their increase, but lab technicians have been waiting for any word that they'll be getting a much needed raise. Today the Minister confirmed it's already in the budget.
Kevin Bernard, Minister of Health and Wellness
"When you look at the government structure and payscale in the entire system, you realize that we started in the nursing side when we did some adjustment with the nursing. This was before me. And then last year we did the adjustment for the pharmacist."
"As you know, a lot of these people were on the very low payscale. We were losing these people to the private sector. And then we have people advancing in their career and not getting up to payscale where they need."
"So we had to take a whole complete look. And so our ministry had that discussion with the public service, with the Ministry of Finance. Last year, like I said, we got the approval for the pharmacist."
"So they are now on the proper structure. We're now working in terms of, and I know the exercise has been done and we have allocated for it in the budget. So I don't want you to say, oh, we just passed a budget and then you'll come back and want a supplementary. We already accounted for that in the budget to ensure that our med technicians, our med technologists, our vector control unit, and our public health inspectors are all upgraded to the right payscale that they ought to be. One, its also about making sure we can retain our health professionals within the country, at the same time giving them a proper compensation for the work they do."
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