EMPLOYEES to the Premier Medical Services Investments (PSMI) have written to government requesting the immediate disbanding of the board and suspension of the entire PSMI directorate for failure to run the organisation professionally.
HealthTimes Reporter
According to a petition addressed to government by PSMI employees, the organisation’s leadership and it’s board have of late been exuding arrogance and ignorance on the prevailing crisis threatening the existence of the organisation.
In an interview with HealthTimes, PSMI employees lawyer, Mr Michael Sambo said it was impossible to move ahead with the current PSMI regime as they have continued to ignore the plight of employees and have failed to turn the organisation around.
A lot has been happening for a while leading to this . Basically it is failure of the institution to address issues to do with employee’s welfare that has led to disgruntlement and lack of confidence in both senior management and board. Whether our petition is going to be honored or not, that’s something else but the position is employees are no longer confident in them,” said Mr Sambo.
Commenting on the salary situation, Mr Sambo said the situation was getting worse as salaries are now being staggered .
“They don’t owe as such but imagine the other part of June salaries is being paid now. Employee salaries are in arrears with those entitled to contractual fuel to enable travel to work now owed more than 12 months’ worth of fuel.”
There have also been reports of employees victimization for engaging the Government through correspondences to the management by public sector trade unions such as ZCPSTU chaired by the PSMI Vice Board Chair Cecelia Alexander
The workers petition has since been received by the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) and other relevant ministries.
According to the petition, the handholding that has been prescribed by the PSMI Board through the Premier Service Holding Company (PSHC) yielded nothing except to further expose PSMI. Further to that, the employees indicated that they fear management is applying the Poison Pill Principle to PSMI that it will no longer be attractive to any investor including you the shareholder so as to cover and bury with it their criminal activities.
“Ostensibly PSMI has collapsed as manifested by the eviction and account garnish orders it continues to receive with Chiredzi and Makoni Medical Centres forced evictions with pictures circulating in social media and the press. Kwekwe and Masvingo Medical Centres has since received notifications to vacate premises.
“Employees have not been spared either in these evictions with a Congolese Sonographer Kasamba having his property attached for non-payment of rentals which not only tarnishes the image of the company but the country at large. Immigrant optometrists have also experienced these humiliating evictions with some forced to seek shelter from friends and relatives,” reads part of the petition.
They added that PSMI Leadership has continued to make wild and frivolous allegations of political overtake by the Government as witnessed by the press statements made by the Vice Board Chair Cecelia Alexander despite 3 consecutive audit reports raising an alarm on the going concern status of the organisation. In the meanwhile, no tangible efforts have been made to date by the same leadership to arrest these challenges.
