By Lamin B. Darboe
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The Minister of Public Service, Hon. Baboucarr Bouy, on Tuesday, January 13, 2025 embarked on a routine spot visits to Government institutions to ascertain the effectiveness of recently introduced Biometric time attendance clock system. |
Upon his visit to the Bundung Maternal and Child Hospital (BMCH), the minister expressed satisfaction with the way the hospital management runs its affairs.
He declared that Bundung Hospital are ahead of most institutions in the usage of their time attendance machine.
“We are happy to visit your institution and we applaud you and your entire staff for the way you are running the administration of your sector. For the staff, I don’t think you want to be part of the failing team because the team you belong to here at the hospital is already a winning team,” Public Service minister affirmed.He then informed the hospital management that his ministry will recommend to the Minister of Health to encourage the management of other health facilities in the country to learn from the management of the Bundung Hospital. “I have the belief that if all the health facilities in the country are performing at the same level with Bundung, people will not go to private health facilities as an option,” said Minister Bouy.
He informed that his ministry is aware of challenges of retaining or attracting the staff at the hospital, but that he his ministry has initiated a discussion with the Ministry of Health on that matter.
“The discussions,” he went on, “were not only centred on Bundung Hospital alone, but the entire health facilities in the rural Gambia” He therefore informed that his ministry will come up with a policy that would attract the health workers across the country.
“You cannot train someone while the condition within that sector is not attractive to retain them. As PMO, it is our interest to make sure that every public office is adequately staffed and remunerated. That would address the issue of retention,” Minister Bouy added.
For his part, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Bundung Maternal and Child Hospital (BMCH), Mamady Cham informed Minister Bouy and team that for effective and efficient management of the hospital human resources, his team, in January 2023, introduced the Human Resource Module System (HRMS).
He outlined the benefits of using the biometric time attendance as follows: efficient, eliminate the challenges associated with physical registration, one cannot register for other, minimizes absenteeism and lateness, avoid manipulation among others.
Minister Bouy was accompanied on the tour by his permanent secretaries Pateh Jah, Lamin F. Jawara, Sheriff Jallow, and DPSs Lalla Jaiteh and Amet Sallah, among other senior officials.
