Henceforth, workers of the 1st category public hospitals in Cameroon that is Douala and Yaounde General Hospitals, Yaounde Teaching Hospital and the Gynaeco-Paediatric Hospital in Yaounde will have their salaries increased by 12 per-cent. A revised collective agreement of workers in the 1st category hospitals was signed yesterday, August 21, in Yaounde between general managers of these hospitals and representatives of health-personnel trade unions nationwide. The document was signed and handed to the Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda who later transferred it to the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Grégoire Owona.

According to the collective agreement, the salary per category of health workers was first harmonised and later revised, before being increased by 12 per-cent for workers from group one to 12. Minister Grégoire Owona said agreeing on a minimum wage for contract workers for hospitals of 1st category has taken into consideration the level of inflation and the economic situation of the country. He stressed that all parties involved that is; employers, trade unionists, human resource directors and representatives of workers should play their role in making sure that the collective agreement is effective for there is no need to agree on something that cannot be respect.

The Minister of Labour and Social Security also noted that the most difficult part for employers is still to come. But he believes that they know what they have engaged into and should be more available to meet with their personnel for they are dealing with a sector that gives life. Thus, social dialogue according to Grégoire Owona should be permanent and not occasionally. Just like Grégoire Owona, the Minister of Public Health called for the respect of the agreement and that a committee will be set-up to that effect. André Mama Fouda lauded the comprehensive nature of heads of hospitals will urging that social dialogue should continue in a direction to ameliorate working conditions in the health sector.

A representative of health personnel, Balla Balla said the former collective agreement of July 24, 2009 in the health sector was not respected and he hopes that this will not be the case with the current agreement. While noting that the agreement goes operational immediately, Balla Balla said it is not time for heads of hospitals to depend on the Board of Directors meeting before applying the convention. The General Manager of the Douala General Hospital, Professor Eugene Belley Priso said applying the agreement immediately will be a difficult task given he needs an extra ten million into the salary budget and the 2012 budget of the hospital is already in execution.