It has been 10 months since the introduction of Scarce Skill Allowance and some cadres have been enjoying between 30-40 percent hefty allowances. The member of parliament Mr Nehemiah Modubule asked the Minister of Health last year if the Dental Therapists don't qualify to be included in the list of Scarce Skill Allowance cadres and after consultation she told parliament that indeed, the cadre was erroneously omitted, which was good news and was met with jubilation by the cadre, which has been in existence since mid 80's.It has been months and the dental therapists are yet to get the allowance, upon enquiry they are sent from pillar to post and they don't get any concrete information as to the progress made for them to get their dues.
All this is a bit familiar for the cadre as they are always made to sweat before they get what government has promised them in black and white. In 1998 the cadre was drafted amongst the list of Scarce Skills cadres and had to go to the High court to get their dues (2006) and even up to now are still to benefit fully from the 1998 circular. Last year when government re-introduced the scarce skill it was surprising to see that Dental therapists were not in the list despite the cadre being the pillar of Oral health in the country, all cadres were included with their technical side in the list e.g pharmacists-pharmacy technician, lab scientist-laboratory technician e.tc. In the dental department only Dentists are listed, a loop-hole helped Dental laboratory technicians to benefit otherwise they too were omitted-they got their dues as Laboratory technicians as in the directive did not state which laboratory.
