Gorontalo Governor Confesses To Minister Of Health Unpaid Healthcare Incentives

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GORONTALO - Gorontalo Governor Rusli Habibie conveyed his heart to Minister of Health Budi Gunadi regarding incentives for health workers who treat COVID-19 patients.

"Back in the old Minister of Health, there was a technical guideline that for health workers at referral hospitals the incentives were paid through the State Budget. Officer in Gorontalo City did not have time to allocate their budget, so the APBN (State Budget) and APBD (Regional Budget) were not paid", said Rusli in Gorontalo, Wednesday, 30 June.

Rusli explained that the health workers' incentives for handling COVID-19 in Gorontalo Province focused on two places designated by the Ministry of Health as referral hospitals, namely the Hasri Ainun Habibie Hospital managed by the Gorontalo Provincial Government and Aloe Saboe Hospital managed by the Gorontalo City Government.

As a result of the unpaid health worker incentives, Gunernur admitted that several doctors at the Aloe Saboe Hospital had come to express their complaints.

“Now we have a budget to pay it to Gorontalo City, but I said I'll see the regulations first. Because yesterday the doctors confided in me, the Minister has not paid everything", added Rusli.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Gorontalo Provincial Government Health Service, Yana Yanti Sulaiman, revealed that the incentives for health workers at Aloei Saboe Hospital, Gorontalo City in 2020 had not been paid for around IDR 5 billion.

In 2021 the Gorontalo City Government budgeted through the Gorontalo City Regional Budget, but only IDR 4 billion. The funds are not enough to finance the total annual bill of IDR 16 billion.

The governor intends to help the Gorontalo City Government as long as it fulfills the existing regulations. Especially for Hasri Ainun Habibie Hospital, in 2021 the Gorontalo Provincial Government will allocate IDR 14 billion for health workers incentives.

Health Minister Budi Gunadi allowed his officials to explain. Budi asked related parties to sit down together to find a way out.

“Mrs. Trisa (Secretary of the Ministry of Health's PPSDM Agency) immediately spoke with the Gorontalo City Health Office assisted by the Provincial Health Office this afternoon to discuss the problem that the Governor conveyed. The data looks different to us as if it was, but Gorontalo said no”, said the Minister of Health.

The Ministry of Health was instructed to immediately follow up, involving representatives from the Ministry of Finance. He asked for the best solution this week as well so that the health worker's incentives could be paid off.