Fulfillment of Incentive Rights and Protection of Health Workers
Jakarta, 10 May 2021 – It has been more than a year since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. During this time, the Wisma Atlet Corona Emergency Hospital (RSDC Wisma Atlet) accommodated and treated Covid-19 patients. To support operations, RSDC Wisma Atlet recruits quite a large number of volunteer health workers. There are at least 1545 nurses and 249 doctors plus a number of other health workers such as epidemiologists, ambulance drivers, sanitarians, pharmacists, medical laboratory technologists,…
PRESS RELEASE
Fulfillment of Incentive Rights and Protection of Health Workers
Jakarta, 10 May 2021 – It has been more than a year since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. During this time, the Wisma Atlet Corona Emergency Hospital (RSDC Wisma Atlet) accommodated and treated Covid-19 patients. To support operations, RSDC Wisma Atlet recruits quite a large number of volunteer health workers. There are at least 1545 nurses and 249 doctors plus a number of other health workers such as epidemiologists, ambulance drivers, sanitarians, pharmacists, medical laboratory technologists, electromedics and medical physicists. They fight every day to treat Covid-19 patients tirelessly.
Surprisingly, on May 5 2021, the Indonesian Health Care Network reported something worrying to LaporCovid-19, namely that the incentives for volunteer health workers at the Wisma Atlet Hospital have not been paid from December 2020 to April 2021, some health workers have not even received incentives since November 2020. This means they work without pay at all amidst the high risk of infection. In fact, some of these health workers cannot work elsewhere while volunteering. During that time, the health workers at the RSDC Wisma Atlet survived on food from the Wisma Atlet and donations from a number of parties. Even though they have the status of volunteers, they received an Service Note issued by BPPSDMK, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia. As mandated by KMK HK.01.07/MENKES/4239/2021, especially in No. 3C, Part B, CHAPTER II concerning Criteria for Health Workers states that volunteer health workers who work at emergency field hospitals such as RSDC Wisma Atlet and other emergency field hospitals are entitled to incentives and death compensation.
Apart from that, this volunteer health worker also plans to hold a press conference on Friday 7 May 2021 to convey his aspirations as well as the results of a survey regarding incentives for health workers. However, this plan failed because they came under a lot of pressure. It cannot be ruled out that they signed the incentive acceptance document under pressure. Threats against them have actually often occurred before this. In fact, their good intentions should be welcomed, and the state must protect them as health workers, workers and good citizens.
So far, they have survived on food from the Athlete's House and donations due to the slow disbursement of incentives for months. Based on data from the Indonesian Health Care Network as of May 10 2021, there were approximately 1500 nurses who had not received incentives in November - December 2020. Meanwhile, in January 2021 there were around 400 nurses who had not received incentives. This situation is almost similar to February April 2021 where around 1500 nurses had not received their rights as pandemic volunteers.
This problem is exacerbated when health workers are forced to remain silent about voicing incentive issues due to pressure from several parties, so that health workers do not dare to express opinions or complaints about their incentive rights. The work system for health workers during the pandemic at the athlete's homestead is that they have to live in the homestead and are controlled by the military and police where their contracts are also automatically extended every month. Health workers also experience uncertainty if they stop working, there is fear that the incentive arrears will not be disbursed. This was experienced by one of the volunteer health workers from the Indonesian Health Care Network who had to be dismissed on May 10 2021 after voicing his rights as a volunteer before his arrears were paid. This is certainly beyond humanitarian reasoning and is very inappropriate for citizens who have taken great pains to help in times of crisis to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, the Indonesian Ministry of Health stated that the outstanding incentive payments had been distributed since April 14 2021. But unfortunately, instead we received news that there are still many health workers who have not yet received it.
Based on data collected by LaporCovid-19 from January 8 2021 to May 6 2021, accumulatively, there are 3484 health workers who have not received incentives. We understand that incentive arrears have started to be paid, but since the issuance of the latest regulations (KMK HK.01.07/MENKES/4239/2021) regarding the mechanism for payment of incentives and death compensation, from mid-April to early May we still found that around 84 health workers spread across various regions did not receive their incentive rights. The biggest problem found was the distribution of incentive amounts that was irregular or not carried out regularly, so that distribution stopped suddenly without knowing when the incentives would be distributed again. Not only that, they also often find that there are cuts from health facilities without any agreement/contract, which means they receive less incentives than they should.
As a report we received from one health worker who received a cut in his incentives:
As a nurse in the Covid-19 isolation room, I only received an incentive of 3 million when I should have received 7.5 million. This incentive cut has occurred since the beginning of the disbursement of incentives from the Ministry of Health. [Regarding this incentive cut, I cannot confirm how many of my friends are affected, because there is no transparency. At our hospital there are around 60 incentive recipients consisting of nurses, general practitioners and DPJP. It is possible that the DPJP will be fully distributed because if the DPJP incentives are cut they will have a say, whereas we want to talk about the impact on us too. What is clear is that the last deduction was in September 2020, it was reported that it had already gone into the hospital's account but there is a plan to cut incentives for disbursement in November-December 2020. Meanwhile, for January - April 2021, I still haven't received any further news. Batu City, East Java – 08 May 2021.
Health workers cannot be asked to excuse the slow disbursement of incentives over a period of months on the grounds that health workers on duty at the Athlete's House voluntarily dedicate themselves to humanity. This cannot be used as a justification for delays and cuts in incentives for health workers. This incentive is an obligation that must be provided by the state, and is the right of health workers who are willing to endanger themselves for the safety of citizens.Hence, we,
The Citizens' Coalition for Justice for Indonesian Health Workers urges the Ministry of Health to:
- Immediately disburse and provide incentive funds to health workers who are tasked with providing care for Covid-19 patients, especially those who work at the Wisma Atlet RSDC and other RSDCs before mid-May 2021.
- Fulfill all obligations as a state apparatus responsible for providing incentives and compensation rights to health workers in accordance with the mandate of applicable laws and regulations.
- Providing incentives for health workers who do not work in health service facilities categorized according to KMK HK.01.07/MENKES/4239/2021 but are infected and suffering from Covid-19.
- Stop all images that incentive funds and compensation to health workers have been disbursed, even though the reality on the ground is that there are still many health workers who have not received them.
We strongly condemn arbitrary actions and all forms of pressure carried out by the parties in power, and urge Mr. Budi Gunadi Sadikin and the ranks of the Ministry of Health to immediately take appropriate steps to protect the rights of health workers and prevent attempts at violence against health workers as proof of their firmness in protecting health workers who have dedicated themselves to humanity.
Citizens' Coalition for Justice for Indonesian Health Workers
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Contact Person:
Firdaus Ferdiansyah ReportCovid-19 (+62 878-3882-2426)
M. Isnur YLBHI (+62 815-1001-4395)
Citizens' Coalition for Justice for Indonesian Health Workers:
LBH Office and Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI)
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW)
Transparency International Indonesia
Lokataru Foundation
Report Covid-19
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