"Should we send our best brains to Canada?"

I thought you all might find this email discussion interesting. It regards salaries paid to Haitian medical staff employed by international NGOs and how those salaries affect the local economy. On the one hand you have to pay enough to retain skilled professionals in the country. On the other hand you have to prevent the 'social earthquake' that higher salaries can create. While you read it keep in mind that the same arguments found here can be applied just about any trained professional in Haiti.

As with any email, start with the first one at the bottom and work your way up. If you have an opinion, please feel free to share it in the comments section. To paraphrase the last email: participate without fear!

PS- You may have concerns about me posting people's names and email addresses on my blog. Well, its an open email distribution list---anyone can join it. Therefore, I figure those people whose names appear in the emails already gave up their right to privacy when they signed up, d'accord?

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Please, let’s keep discussions respectful and open-minded. It’s the only way we will ensure the participation of all without fear of being scorned for their opinions. This is what we need in the new Haiti we are trying to build.

Regards,

Jean Claude Cerin
Représentant National - Haïti
Tearfund UK

P Prière de penser à l'environnement avant d'imprimer ce message.
P Please consider the environment before printing this message.

From: oneresponse.health-bounces@unocha-info.org [mailto:oneresponse.health-bounces@unocha-info.org] On Behalf Of gedeon gelin
Sent: 15 February 2010 12:58
To: 'Adam McKay'; LECKG@aol.com; CMHotmail; rlaroche rlaroche; jean paul bonnet; moralesc@hai.ops-oms.org
Cc: 'Frank C. Sabatino'; oneresponse.health@unocha-info.org
Subject: Re: [Oneresponse] Salaries for health care professionals in Haiti


Dear all,

I thank you for your comments about the salary that should be given to health professionals in Haiti.As a member of the ministry of health cabinet I will talk about your suggestions to the Minister of Health (Dr Larsen) and will be back to you with his comments and suggestions.

I would like to say a word on what Christian Morales [from WHO] said: "The pb( problem) by raising salaries without having a wider picture is that you contribute to the real risk of “a social earthquake” because of the inequalities introduced". I am really sorry to say that I strongly disagree with Christian Morales views because he is wrong. We just have to take a look at what he has as a salary at WHO. The problem is not rising the salary. We should create opportunity for all. Why people from foreign countries working in Haiti should have high salaries while very well trained haitian doctors and nurses who most the time speak english, french and spanish should receive a low salary?

The problem should be solved with honesty...Is it a strategy to send our best brains to Canada Dr Morales?

Respectfully,

Gelin




GELIN Gedeon MD
Msc in Tropical diseases control
Medical Epidemiologist
Independant consultant

--- En date de : Lun 15.2.10, jean paul bonnet a écrit :

De: jean paul bonnet
Objet: Re: [Oneresponse] Salaries for health care professionals in Haiti
À: "'Adam McKay'", "CMHotmail" <"rlaroche rlaroche"G>
Cc: "'Frank C. Sabatino'" oneresponse.health@unocha-info.org
Date: Lundi 15 février 2010, 13h37

Dear Friends,
I agree whole heartedly with the ongoing conversations. There is a real issue with what a person is paid and economic survival in Haiti. Creating a social earthquake would be counterproductive to advancing the greater good in Haiti. This is a conversation that cannot be ignored. Yes, the ministry of health needs to have input and probably final say.
This is in fact part of a bigger issue of a multi level economy. How can anyone making 4 dollars a day survive in Haiti? Where are they to live? What are they to eat. Certainly not in a restaurant, nor will they ever stay in a nice Hotel for a night. These economic issues must be resolved in order for the entire nation to move into the new century and stand strong without internal strife. While daunting a task not unresolvable. We in the healthsector can lead the way. Whatever salary is agreed upon we must discuss a persons ability to live on this salary. .The shortage of medical personal will in some respect determine the market place.
Points well made are to create a base salary with an incentive for working hard.. Point I will make is that no physician can stay in Haiti making 1,000 dollars a month . This is what is causing our brain drain. We need to capture all of the Doctors graduating from the school in cuba.
Realizing we cannot address all issues in one discussion, there is a problem with Doctors who only speak french, spanish and creole. How does one solve a language barrier when one must speak 4 languages to function with all??
I welcome ongoing dialogue and thank you for previous responses. Patience, hope and faith will get us there. now is the time to for Haiti to become a beacon of light for a troubled world. When all come together for the common good we can see miracles occur. The world is helping for the right reasons we must not forfeit this opportunity.
Peace and God Bless, Dr.Jean-Paul ( a caring person who has been visiting Haiti many times over the past 14 years)

--- On Mon, 2/15/10, rlaroche rlaroche> wrote:

From: rlaroche rlaroche
Subject: Re: [Oneresponse] Salaries for health care professionals in Haiti
To: "'Adam McKay'" , "'jean paul bonnet'">, LECKG@aol.com, "CMHotmail"
Cc: oneresponse.health@unocha-info.org, "'Frank C. Sabatino'"
Date: Monday, February 15, 2010, 6:37 AM

Dear colleagues,

This issue of salary should be discussed with the Ministry of Health and with the different professional asociations (Association Medical haitienne, Association des infirmieres licenciees, etc.) as there is an urgent need to employ haitian professionals from all venues: doctors, nurses, social workrs and so forth.

There is also a need to match what the public and private sectors offer currently in order to make the system sustainable amd not create a disparity that will be detremental to the general population which will not be able to afford healthlcare services once the emergency relief agencies are gone.

This is serious matter and I urge you to have an efficient subcommittee with all parties involed in order to assess the right salary for each category of personals. Sincerely.

Dr. LaRoche, President of the Association of Private Hospitals in Haiti

On February 15, 2010 at 2:54 AM CMHotmail wrote:

> Please remind yourselves the fact that salary in the public system is of
> 1,000 per month. The pb by raising salaries without having a wider picture
> is that you contribute to the real risk of “a social earthquake” because of
> the inequalities introduced. What we suggest is to offer a remuneration make
> of two items: salary (equal to the one in the public sector) + incentives
> (that may negotiated once a year and are related to results). In that sense,
> if you’re thinking for instance to pay a remuneration say of 4,000 (4 times
> higher than the one of the public sector), you may consider to offer 1,000
> as salary, 2,000 as incentives and to put 1,000 to a common baskets with
> other NGOs and cooperations to also offer an incentive to the public sector
> workers in order to limitate a bit the salary gap and the risk of social
> explosion.
>
> Yours truly.
>
>
>
>
>
> Cristian Morales
>
> Consultant Développement du système de santé et services
>
> Consultor Sistema de Salud y servicios
>
> WHO/PAHO-Haiti
>
> OPS/OMS-Haiti
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> De : oneresponse.health-bounces@unocha-info.org
> [mailto:oneresponse.health-bounces@unocha-info.org] De la part de jean paul
> bonnet
> Envoyé : 14 février 2010 22:23
> À : LECKG@aol.com; Adam McKay
> Cc : Frank C. Sabatino; oneresponse.health@unocha-info.org
> Objet : Re: [Oneresponse] Salaries for health care professionals in Haiti
>
>
>
>
> Dr. Leck, Adam McKay,
>
> Two years ago I had a lengthy discussion with Dr. Leger who was director
> of the State Hospital in Les Cayes. It was his opinion that a physician
> needed at least 4,000 US a month to live and raise a family. The system at
> the time was paying 2,000 a month. The problem with that salary is that the
> physician needed to pick up part time work in order to pay his or her bills
> and could not commit 100% effort towards any job. This created an
> underperforming or commited Doctor. I will review the attached files and
> send this e-mail to a close friend of 25 years who is an expert labor
> lawyer. He has offered to help in anyway possible to advance Haiti and the
> conditions of the less enfranchised.
>
> Blessings, Dr. Jean-Paul Bonnet
>
>
>
> --- On Sun, 2/14/10, Adam McKay wrote:
>
>
> From: Adam McKay
> Subject: Re: [Oneresponse] Salaries for health care professionals in Haiti
> To:
> Cc: oneresponse.health@unocha-info.org
> Date: Sunday, February 14, 2010, 10:07 PM
>
> Thanks for the inquiry Dr Leck. It's nice to see you are concerned about
> paying the fair wage and also maximizing employment of haitians
>
> We have a program called Employ Haiti -- www.employhaiti.org
> -- and have salary information for all
> different levels of employees. We could also help with managing the
> workforce, payroll, accounting, etc..
> Our services are available to any non-profit or NGO operating here now. For
> the time being we are not set up to work with for-profit companies.
>
>
> Adam McKay
> Morrell Foundation
>
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 14, 2010 at 8:57 PM, > wrote:
>
> Hello all,
>
>
>
> Any ideas as to what the current salaries are for Haitian physical
> therapists, pediatricians, and RNs?
>
>
>
> Genevieve
>
>
>
> Genevieve Leck, MD, MA
> leckg@aol.com
> Haitichildren.org
>
>
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