Doctors in Twic East in South Sudan’s Jonglei State are receiving their salaries and resuming work after five months without pay, a local official said.
Twic East County Commissioner Dau Akuei Jurkuch told Radio Tamazuj that Interchurch Medical Assistance, which runs the health facilities in the county, has started to pay over 122 of its staffs in Panyagoor, Kongor, Wanglei and Pakeer areas.
The staff had demanded to be paid in dollars and to receive further training.
IMA Country Director Mounir Lado told Radio Tamazuj that the Twic East medical staffs are being given two months salary over the next two weeks, and that the rest of the salaries will be backpaid in the coming months.
He said the delay was caused in part by Kenya Commercial Bank having a shortage of hard currency. He said his organization has transferred its account to Stanbic Bank which has more dollars available.
Food distributed after attack
Separately, commissioner Dau announced that humanitarian organizations have distributed food for more than 13,000 citizens who fled their homes after an armed attack on Maar payam earlier this month left over 20 people dead.
The county official pointed out that the security situation is unstable owing to thefts and armed attacks from time to time. However, he said the authorities decided to deploy army and police forces to provide security to the citizens.