Padang City Government Responds To Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian's Reprimand About Unpaid Healthcare Incentives

ILLUSTRATION/BETWEEN

PADANG - The Padang City Government responded to a warning sent by the Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian to the Mayor of Padang Hendri Septa regarding the non-payment of incentives for health workers.

"Incentives for health workers until July 2021 in Padang City have been paid in the amount of Rp. 20.83 billion or around 40.88 percent. That includes incentives for health workers at Dr. Rasidin Padang Hospital," said Head of Protocol and Communications for the Padang City Government Leader Amrizal Rengganis here. Padang quoted by Antara, Tuesday, August 31.

Therefore, according to him, it is not true that the Padang City Government did not pay incentives for health workers related to the handling of COVID-19.

He conveyed that the realization of the 50 percent incentive payment as required in the Minister of Home Affairs' letter had not been achieved due to several things.

First, the calculation pattern for the payment of incentives for health workers for the 2021 fiscal year is different from the calculation pattern for the 2020 fiscal year because health care facilities that do not treat positive confirmed patients are not paid incentives.

"Then the number of patients being treated at several Puskesmas and RSUD dr. Rasidin Padang at the beginning of the first trimester of the 2021 Fiscal Year is still small, so the incentives cannot be paid," he said.

"Thirdly, not all health workers get full incentives in one month, but it is adjusted to the number of cases handled or the number of days the health workers provide direct services to patients, this is according to the rules," he continued.

According to Amrizal, the letter from the Minister of Home Affairs asking about the unpaid incentives has been answered by the Mayor of Padang, Hendri Septa.

The answer from the Mayor of Padang stated that the realization of this health worker incentive payment had not been achieved because of these factors.

Amrizal said the Padang City Government had refocused the 8 percent budget sourced from the General Allocation Fund (DAU) for the handling of COVID-19 in the health sector amounting to Rp. 83.58 billion. One of the allocations of funds is used for payment of incentives for regional health workers for the 2021 fiscal year amounting to Rp50.9 billion.

Previously, the Minister of Home Affairs, Tito Karnavian, reprimanded 10 regents/mayors for not paying the incentives for health workers.