Shania Shayal Prasad 
The Ministry of Health is currently facing challenges in filling radiographer positions due to a shortage in the market.
Radiographers are health professionals who specialize in conducting X-rays.
While speaking on the submission to the Public Accounts Committee on MoH’s 2019, 2020, and 2021 audited accounts, Head of Human Resources Joe Fuata says a lot of these officers are leaving the public sector and joining the private sector with the increased amount of x-ray set-ups they have.
In dealing with this issue, the MoH is hiring a private medical emerging technologist to fill in the gap.
“They come in on a part-time basis for up to 20 hours per week, and we pay them an hourly rate. And this is the first time we have implemented it this year because of the need to address the shortages in our health facilities.”
Fuata adds that the Ministry is looking at strategies to address their attrition rate, as he mentions that re-looking at salary is not the best way to solve this issue.
While responding to the queries about overtime in this area, he says that having additional staff wherever there is a need will assist the team.
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