The Health Ministry has confirmed that retroactive payments for dental assistants will be settled next Wednesday, March 29.

The update follows a protest by dental assistants outside the Finance Ministry’s office in Downtown Kingston, this morning (March 22), over the government’s failure, to pay them their new wages under the restructured compensation system.

Following the protest, the Health Ministry issued a statement, indicating that it had communicated with the Union of Technical Administrative and Supervisory Personnel (UTASP), which represents the dental assistants in the public health sector, advising it of the scheduled payment for next week.

General Secretary for UTASP, St. Patrice Ennis, lamented that industrial action had to be taken, to receive a response from government.