GEORGE TOWN – Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has urged doctors who have yet to receive their special frontliner allowances of RM300 each from the state to refer to the Penang health department.
Chow, who was responding to a report in The Vibes on the matter, said that the department had furnished the list of the medical frontliners to the state government.
“There might be a situation where there are doctors who had reported to the frontline after the payout was accorded earlier. The department needs to check this,” he said.
The state has decided not to issue a second payment as the first was apparently adequate.
This is also because he said that the state can only afford one round of the payout.
Chow said that the state has tried its best to reward the frontliners, and if there are those who were left out, they need to refer to the proper authorities.
He said this after launching an international scheme to entice Bumiputra entrepreneurs to adopt the e-commerce module due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on trade.
Earlier, it was reported that some state doctors were left out of the RM300 special frontliner allowance despite an appeal by Penang 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 and authorities should investigate it.
The doctors have been on Covid-19 duty since the start of the pandemic in March.
Chow had announced in March the “Penangite Aid Package”, promising a one-off RM300 aid for frontliners from the police force, state health department, and locally deployed personnel in the military, immigration department, civil defence force, local councils and People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela).
In another development, Chow said that most of the present batch of Covid-19 cases are among factory workers, namely in sub-districts 12 and 13 where the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) is being enforced.
The EMCO is now extended to the end of this month, as the state recorded 37 positive cases on Friday, bringing its cumulative total to 2,900 with four deaths since January this year.
Although most of the cases originated from the two state prison clusters and factories in heavily industrialised areas, Chow urged the public not to let their guard down, especially with the year-end Christmas and New Year celebrations approaching.
The basic steps of staying masked, embracing physical distancing and personal hygiene are needed, he stressed.
Chow said that health authorities needed to extend the EMCO to screen residents in sub-districts under EMCO as precaution.
To date, only 40% of the residents have been tested, said Chow. – The Vibes, December 19, 2020
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