DAR ES SALAAM (ILO News) – More than 370 Tanzanian medical doctors and practitioners were trained by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on occupation injuries and diseases to better support the country’s Workers’ Compensation Fund (WCF).
The objective of the drill – held in the course of July 2016 - was to better equip medical practitioners in performing assessment and diagnosis of work injuries and occupational diseases and provide relevant recommendations for final benefit decisions.
The training was attended by participants from 23 regions and covered the following areas - occupational health, occupational diseases, occupational injuries, procedures in diagnosis and assessments of occupation diseases and injuries; supportive supervision and monitoring and evaluation.
In the process of strengthening social protection schemes in Tanzania, the ILO supported the establishment of the WCF a year ago to provide access to employment injury insurance to more than 2 million formal sector workers, both the private and public workers in the country.
According to Mr. Masha Msomba, Director General of the WCF, the benefits covered by the fund include medical aid, compensation for temporary disablement, for permanent disablement, rehabilitation services, constant attendance care grant, funeral grants and compensation to dependants of the deceased employees.
“…The rationale behind the establishment of the fund is to provide adequate and equitable compensation for employees who suffer occupational injuries or contract occupational diseases arising out of, and in the course of their employment, and in case of death, for their dependants…”, Mshomba said.
The WCF was established by the Workers' Compensation Act of 2008 and applied to both public and private employers for the 2015-2016 tax year that began July 1, 2015. Since then, all Tanzanian employers have been required to submit a percentage of employee wages to the Workers' Compensation Fund (WCF). Whereas the private sector employers are required to contribute one percent of each employee's wages the public sector employers must contribute 0.5 percent of wages on a monthly basis. These contributions are at the employer’s cost and as such they are not deducted from the employees’ salaries.
While commending Tanzania for the establishment of the Fund, Ms. Mary Kawar, Director ILO Country Office, Dar es Salaam stressed the fact that “…collaborative efforts among all partners, government, workers and employers will highly be needed to ensure continuous assessment and sustainability of the fund …”
Background Information
The ILO has been supporting the WCF since its inception by providing both technical and financial assistance through the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Parliamentary Affairs, Youth and Disabled, by setting guidelines for its establishment including operational manuals and IT systems.
The ILO continues to work closer with the government and the social partners especially on the ongoing efforts within the National Strategy for Reduction of Poverty (MKUKUTA) and on the reform of formal social security schemes through its Decent Work Country Programme. Strengthening of the operationalization of the Fund is part of these efforts.
According to ILO estimates, worldwide, more than 2.3 million people die from work-related accidents or diseases each year. Employment injuries and work-related diseases cause the deaths of 6,300 workers per day around the world.
