COVID-19 Incentives Have Not Been Paid For Months, Health Workers At Pirngadi Medan Reported The Ombudsman

MEDAN - A number of health workers handling COVID-19 at the Dr. Pirngadi Hospital Medan came to the Office of the Indonesian Ombudsman Representative of North Sumatra. They complained about incentives that have not been paid for months.

One of the health workers, Buala Zendrato, said that in March 2020, they were promised to receive incentive funds while dealing with COVID-19. However, until February 2021 they had only received 2 months of incentives.

"First, we received it in October 2020. What I questioned is, we signed for 3 months, but we only received 2 months for March and April", said Zendrato, Wednesday, February 17.

When he asked the hospital management, according to Zendrato, health workers were only promised to disburse COVID-19 incentives.

"They always told us to be patient, In November, we ask for it, the answer is 'be patient'. Finally, until 2021 there is no clear point. So 7 months have not been paid and it is IDR 7.5 million per month. That is valid from the ministry, there is no deduction whatsoever", he continued.

The health workers at Dr. Pirngadi Hospital are already working and serving COVID-19 patients. Therefore, health workers demand that the incentive funds be paid immediately.

Regarding the complaint, the Head of the Indonesian Ombudsman Representative of North Sumatra, Abyadi Siregar, said that the issue of COVID-19 incentive money must be resolved. Abyadi suspects that there is an inappropriate management of the COVID-19 incentive fund.

"We see that the management of COVID-19 incentive funds is not correct, this is just a temporary suspicion. The indication is that they have worked for 12 months and have only been paid for 2 months, which means they have not been paid for 6 months", said Abyadi.

"There are deductions, for example, they signed 12 million but received only 11 million. If you say the 5 percent tax is too big. So it is suspected that there was a cut in their funds that was not in accordance with the regulations", he continued.

Moreover, according to Abyadi, the incentives at another hospital, namely Adam Malik Hospital, are not having such issue.

"This is the problem, in other places, there are no such issues, it is smooth, while here (Dr. Pirngadi Hospital), there are. If for example there is no budget, we understand, but we are told there is a budget for their incentives, so they demand their rights", he explained.

To follow up on the health workers' complaints, the Ombudsman plans to call the Medan City Health Office and Pirngadi Hospital.