ECC may okay extra pay for health workers

Additional salary to health workers treating coronavirus patients will be disbursed under risk allowance

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet will take up a 12-point agenda on Wednesday including approving a month’s extra salary pay to health workers on duty for coronavirus patients and additional funds of Rs3.82 billion for the foreign ministry.

The meeting, chaired by Adviser to the PM on Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh, will also take up a summary for funds for the expenditure incurred on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) legal matters.

The additional salary to health workers treating the coronavirus patients will be disbursed under risk allowance.

A technical grant of Rs168.1 million will be considered for the civilian forces deployed under the UN peacekeeping mission. Another technical grant of Rs7.24 billion is likely to be approved for the immunisation expansion programme.

The ECC meeting will review the progress on the wheat procurement process. Other items on the agenda include the regulations for the Prime Minister’s Successful Youth Programme and a $10.9 million increase in capital for the National Bank of Pakistan’s Bangladesh operations.



The Young Doctors Association (YDA) at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) – which is the main health centre treating Covid-19 patients in the federal capital – have blamed poor government policies, the incompetence of the hospital’s administration, and the lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for a large number of doctors and healthcare officials getting infected.

Last month, the Sindh government had decided to pay one month’s basic salary as a bonus to medical professionals in the province.

Similarly, the Punjab government had also approved an honorarium equal to a month’s basic pay for the healthcare providers working diretctly with coronavirus-infected patients.

However, doctors and paramedic in Punjab have complained that it was almost impossible for them to claim the bonus they were eligible only if they had completed 96 hours a month in a coronavirus facility with at least 30 beds.

According to the Punjab government's rules for public hospitals, doctors treat Covid-19 patients six hours a day for a week. Then, to ensure the doctor has not contracted the virus, they must go into self-quarantine for 14 days.

This brings the total working hours to 84 a month. That is below the 96 hours required to meet the condition for the bonus.

Unlike Sindh and Punjab, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has refused to release an additional month’s salary to doctors and paramedics.