Aid post and hospital orderlies: a vanishing breed?

A survey of all aid post and hospital orderlies was conducted in 1987 and 1988 to gather information about their sex, age, length of service, public service status, qualifications and work location. Information was collected for an estimated 71% of the total number of orderlies. A fifth of all orderlies--almost all of whom were men--were 55 years of age or over and almost half had served 20 years or more. Substantial provincial differences were evident, with Gulf, Northern and Enga provinces having the oldest orderlies. A quarter of the orderlies were public servants and 16% did not hold a certificate. The majority (70%) worked at the aid post level. health centre orderlies were older, less likely to hold a certificate and more likely to belong to the public service. Using the most conservative estimate, the orderly cadre is estimated to be short by almost 500 workers. The paper argues that considerable gains in both the cost and the quality of services could be achieved by replacing older, untrained orderlies with newly trained community health workers with clear job descriptions.