MPR urges govt to focus on condition of health workers
Published on: Monday, July 19, 2021
By: Tempo Indonesia
An exhausted medical officer is seen resting after carrying out free BNI Share Swab Test program in Jakarta.
JAKARTA: The government needs to pay greater attention to the condition of health workers who are facing high workloads and risk in handling Covid-19 patients, urged the deputy speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), Syarief Hasan.“The medical and healthcare workers have put their lives at risk to help combat the pandemic. The government should be fully conscious (to their hardship),” Syarief Hasan said in a written statement.
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The workers’ pay is also not commensurate with their increased workload in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, he added.
“(The healthcare and medical workers) are working hard, yet some healthcare volunteers have received only a minimum for their pay,” he pointed out.
The government should immediately and evenly distribute incentives, ranging from Rp5 million (around US$343) to Rp15 million (around US$1,029) per month, — that have been promised to healthcare and medical workers, he added.
“Incentives supposed to have been received by November (2020) have only recently been disbursed to the workers in several regions,” Hasan noted.
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The government funded the healthcare budget through the sale of government bonds in 2020, he said. The distribution of the budget for meeting healthcare workers’ needs and purposes must be prioritized, he added.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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With daily positive cases reaching 57,756, and a high number of patients still undergoing treatment and yet to recover, the country is in urgent need of more healthcare workers, Hasan said.
