Incentives for COVID-19 Medical Workers in Progress: Ministry

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - An Indonesian Finance Ministry representative on Friday explained the incentives for medical workers combating COVID-19 have yet to be distributed as the central government is still awaiting data from provinces on the medical workers.

“Until this moment the central government is still waiting for the data from regions, on whom will be paid, for how many days, months, and so on. We are still waiting for those to be sent to us,” said the Directorate General of Fiscal Balance’s director of special transfer funds, Putut Setyaka on Friday.

The incentives for medics involved in treating COVID-19 patients were previously announced by President Jokowi. 

“[The incentives] will depend on the medics' level, expertise, and geographical workplace. [The number of incentives] will also depend on whether they were directly involved in COVID-19 treatment or in a supporting role,” he said. 

Meanwhile, other regions that have sent the data are currently being verified before the incentives are transferred to regional administrations. Medical specialists will receive Rp15 million monthly incentives while general practitioners will receive monthly incentives of Rp10 million.   

The Finance Ministry has increased the health operational assistance (BOK) funds by Rp3.7 trillion to Rp13.4 trillion for medical workers’ incentives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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