ALL Ministry of Health staff have been reminded about office hours, punctuality and attendance in a circular sent to department heads by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Sala Saketa.
The circular basically covers the three major areas as part of the ministry’s move towards customer focus in 2010.
Health spokesman Iliesa Tora said this was the first step taken by the health management in an effort to get staff thinking customer service in the new year.
“We set out last year to do certain things and we have been able to achieve those,” Mr Tora said.
“That included the provision of new vehicles to cater for the great need for transport plus the purchasing of new equipment to outfit all our health facilities.
“This year we had wanted to focus on customer service and this is the first step taken.”
Mr Tora said the circular sent to health staff stressed the following important points:
1. the official hours of work are from 8am to 4.30pm from Monday to Thursday and from 8am to 4pm on Friday.
2. Staff must be responsible with their attendance and absence.
3. Tea breaks in the morning and afternoon are being minimized with staff advised to take their tea at their respective workstations to ensure services provided to our customers are not disrupted.
4. All telephone calls must be answered within the first three calls.
Mr Tora said it was important for staff right around the country that they take heed of the contents of the circular sent and act on that.
“The Ministry of Health has been blamed time and time again in the past that we are not customer focus,” Mr Tora said.

“We need to change that image and work on improving our customer service.
“It will be of no use if we have all the latest equipment and transport fleet but are not able to improve our customer service.
“That’s the message we want to give our people.”
Customer service workshops and training sessions are being planned for all health staff.