GEORGE TOWN – Some state doctors have been left out of the RM300 special frontliner allowance despite an appeal by Penang General Hospital.
A few doctors, who declined to be named, told The Vibes that they assumed some were left out of the first batch of the aid, but authorities should look into it.
The doctors have been on Covid-19 duty since the start of the pandemic in March.
“By right, all frontliners should get the allowance. The irony of it all is that those in the Covid-19 teams did not get the allowance, but those not in the teams got it.
“We tried to fight for it. We even spoke to our head of department, but there was nothing. So, we just gave up.
“We got our monthly special allowance from the federal government, but not the one the state promised us.
“A letter on the matter was sent in June. It has been six months, but there is still no news,” said one doctor.
Another doctor for Covid-19 patients said he was puzzled as those who are just checking people’s temperature at the hospital’s entrance got the special allowance.
State Agrotechnology, Food Safety, Rural Development and Health Committee chairman Dr Norlela Ariffin reiterated that all special allowances have been given out since May.
However, she did not comment on the letter dated June 3 and signed by Penang General Hospital deputy director Wong Cheng Yew.
Despite the missing allowance, there is no respite for Covid-19 doctors on duty, as the low-risk quarantine centre at Kompleks Masyarakat Penyayang here is running at full capacity.
Efforts to expand the facility from 100 beds to 200 are under way.
Currently, the first floor of the complex is taken up. Work will soon start to convert the ground floor into a low-risk quarantine centre.
Penang reported 80 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, with a sharp spike of 45 cases in Mukim 13 and 25 infections in Mukim 12.
Many of these cases involve foreign workers in the nearby industrial zone.
In March, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow announced the “Penangite Aid Package”, promising a one-off RM300 aid for frontliners from the police force, state Health Department, locally deployed military, Immigration Department, Civil Defence Force, local councils and People’s Volunteer Corps. – The Vibes, December 18, 2020
