Covid-19: Rangpur hospital frontliners in distress without government aid
Dedicated Covid Isolation Hospital in Rangpur Collected
Liakat Ali Badal, Rangpur
Publish : 02 Nov 2021, 08:03 PMUpdate : 02 Nov 2021, 08:04 PM
As many as 760 nurses and other staffers of Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RpMCH) have yet to receive the incentive package allocated for healthcare professionals for performing their duties as frontliners during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite risking their lives every day to provide healthcare services to patients with Covid and similar symptoms, they have been constantly neglected by the hospital authority, the nurses said.
According to hospital sources, 76 nurses and staffers of the RpMCH had contracted Covid-19 in the line of duty, of whom four succumbed while undergoing treatment at the specialized hospital.
However, none of them had received the financial aid as declared by the government last year for frontline health workers.
The government in May last year decided to pay two months’ additional salaries to medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, who were on the frontlines fighting the Covid-19 outbreak.
In April this year, a circular on Covid-19 death compensation issued by the finance department said the family members of frontline fighters would be eligible for compensation as per their pay scale grade, and employees would be given between Tk5 lakh and Tk10 lakh if they contracted Covid-19.
Meanwhile, healthcare staffers are growing frustrated as promises of double salaries and incentives during the pandemic period remain yet to be fulfilled.
Leaders of health worker associations said frontline fighters were losing morale as the authorities were failing to keep their word.
Ashikur Rahman, a fourth grade employee at the hospital, said: “All the 472 resident and intern doctors of the hospital have already received incentives. But we have not been given a single penny so far, whereas we are providing the most services.”
Gofran Ahmed, president of the hospital's nurses' association, blamed the hospital director's indifference towards his medical staffers for their not having received the government aid.
He said the government had declared incentives for all doctors, nurses and staffers providing health services during this pandemic period.
As per the announcement, the health department sought lists of frontline health workers from hospitals across the country.
However, the RpMCH director has been intentionally delaying the process by coming up with excuses about needing more time to finalize the list.
“We have had enough. If we don't start getting what we are entitled to we will go for a tougher movement,” he added.
Contacted, RpMCH Director Rezaul Islam said the hospital authorities had almost finished compiling a list of all nurses and other staffers at the hospital entitled to government aid during the pandemic period.
He also said after they sent the list, which they hoped to do soon, they could start disbursing the financial assistance as soon as they received directives from the health department in this regard.
Covid: 3 more die, 229 new cases
Bangladesh recorded three more deaths from Covid-19 and 229 fresh cases in the 24 hours between 8am Monday and 8am Tuesday.
The latest developments have taken the death toll to 27,873 and the total caseload to 1,569,982.
As many as 20,031 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, yielding a positivity rate of 1.14%, according to a Directorate General of Health Services statement.
Covid-19: Rangpur hospital frontliners in distress without government aid
As many as 760 nurses and other staffers of Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RpMCH) have yet to receive the incentive package allocated for healthcare professionals for performing their duties as frontliners during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Despite risking their lives every day to provide healthcare services to patients with Covid and similar symptoms, they have been constantly neglected by the hospital authority, the nurses said.
According to hospital sources, 76 nurses and staffers of the RpMCH had contracted Covid-19 in the line of duty, of whom four succumbed while undergoing treatment at the specialized hospital.
However, none of them had received the financial aid as declared by the government last year for frontline health workers.
The government in May last year decided to pay two months’ additional salaries to medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, who were on the frontlines fighting the Covid-19 outbreak.
In April this year, a circular on Covid-19 death compensation issued by the finance department said the family members of frontline fighters would be eligible for compensation as per their pay scale grade, and employees would be given between Tk5 lakh and Tk10 lakh if they contracted Covid-19.
Meanwhile, healthcare staffers are growing frustrated as promises of double salaries and incentives during the pandemic period remain yet to be fulfilled.
Leaders of health worker associations said frontline fighters were losing morale as the authorities were failing to keep their word.
Ashikur Rahman, a fourth grade employee at the hospital, said: “All the 472 resident and intern doctors of the hospital have already received incentives. But we have not been given a single penny so far, whereas we are providing the most services.”
Gofran Ahmed, president of the hospital's nurses' association, blamed the hospital director's indifference towards his medical staffers for their not having received the government aid.
He said the government had declared incentives for all doctors, nurses and staffers providing health services during this pandemic period.
As per the announcement, the health department sought lists of frontline health workers from hospitals across the country.
However, the RpMCH director has been intentionally delaying the process by coming up with excuses about needing more time to finalize the list.
“We have had enough. If we don't start getting what we are entitled to we will go for a tougher movement,” he added.
Contacted, RpMCH Director Rezaul Islam said the hospital authorities had almost finished compiling a list of all nurses and other staffers at the hospital entitled to government aid during the pandemic period.
He also said after they sent the list, which they hoped to do soon, they could start disbursing the financial assistance as soon as they received directives from the health department in this regard.
Covid: 3 more die, 229 new cases
Bangladesh recorded three more deaths from Covid-19 and 229 fresh cases in the 24 hours between 8am Monday and 8am Tuesday.
The latest developments have taken the death toll to 27,873 and the total caseload to 1,569,982.
As many as 20,031 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, yielding a positivity rate of 1.14%, according to a Directorate General of Health Services statement.