Why did Con Cuong revoke the anti-epidemic allowance of medical staff?
After receiving funding to support vaccination during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Con Cuong District Medical Center paid hundreds of medical staff. However, more than half of this money was later withdrawn to pay other forces participating in the fight against the pandemic.
On June 11, Mr. Lo Van Thao - Chairman of Con Cuong District People's Committee said that he had just signed a decision to establish an inspection team to inspect the compliance with legal regulations in the management and use of state budget funds for Covid-19 prevention and control in the period of 2020-2023 at Con Cuong District Medical Center.
The move came after some medical staff complained that the Con Cuong District Medical Center had paid them money to support Covid-19 prevention and control but then withdrew a portion of it.
A medical worker who asked to remain anonymous said that in the first payment in early 2022, she received nearly 5 million VND, but was later asked to return more than 2 million VND.
“We are very concerned, not knowing what the purpose of the money is,” said this female medical worker. Similarly, more than 130 medical workers working at the Con Cuong District Medical Center and medical stations that participated in the fight against the epidemic also had nearly half of the money they received in the first round revoked.
By the end of 2022, Con Cuong District Medical Center continued to pay the second installment of the special allowance for Covid-19 vaccination. However, not long after, the center continued to withdraw a portion of the total amount paid. This made many medical staff feel confused.
Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporters, Ms. Vi Thi Huong - Director of Con Cuong District Medical Center said that this is an allowance for medical staff directly injecting Covid-19 vaccines in the free vaccination program at public medical facilities.
In the first phase, payment will be made according to the provisions of Resolution No. 58/NQ-CP dated June 8, 2021 of the Government. Specifically, the allowance is 7,500 VND/dose.
“After receiving instructions, the District Health Center submitted a report to the District People's Committee. By February 2022, the district had allocated more than VND590 million for the first phase. However, after receiving the money and comparing the working days, it overlapped with other anti-epidemic activities such as sampling and investigating the Covid-19 epidemic, so there was an excess of VND50 million. We returned it to the budget, leaving only more than VND540 million to pay for more than 130 medical staff at the center and commune health stations,” said Ms. Huong.
According to Ms. Huong, after the payment was completed, there were many opinions advising that in the vaccination work, there were also contributions from many other forces, so the Con Cuong District Medical Center decided to collect 300 million VND out of the total of more than 540 million VND in allowances paid to medical staff to share with these people.
“To complete the vaccination work, there are also efforts from the police force to ensure order, then population collaborators, people guiding people... But according to the payment instructions, these people are not among the beneficiaries of the allowance, but only those in the vaccination team. During the urgent epidemic prevention, we have to mobilize all forces to support, sometimes working all night, very hard. But when the allowance is available, they do not receive it, we also feel guilty,” Ms. Huong added.
At the end of 2022, Con Cuong District Medical Center continued to be granted more than 1 billion VND to pay the second allowance. After fully paying more than 130 medical staff, Con Cuong District Medical Center continued to collect more than 300 million VND of this amount to share with other forces not eligible for the allowance.
However, this time, before paying other forces, it received a reaction from medical staff. After receiving feedback from medical staff expressing disagreement, the District Medical Center returned to the budget the money collected in both the first and second installments.
“Up to now, we have returned more than 600 million VND to the budget. Recovering allowances from medical staff does not affect their benefits. They receive allowances based on how much they work. As for this amount of more than 600 million VND, we duplicated timekeeping, leading to overpayment, and to support medical staff and other forces participating in Covid-19 vaccination but not subject to payment. But later, we realized that we paid to the wrong subjects, so we recovered and returned it to the budget,” said Ms. Vi Thi Huong.
The Director of Con Cuong District Medical Center also admitted mistakes in paying allowances for Covid-19 vaccination, but she said that this was not for personal gain.
“This comes from reality, realizing that other forces are also struggling to fight the epidemic, so we want to share with them. We do not seek personal gain. But later, because we realized it was wrong, we returned it to the budget,” Ms. Huong added.
