Honorarium demanded for all employees of hospitals

The administration of teaching hospitals in Punjab is demanding honorarium to all employees across the board rather than just those working in the management of Covid-19 patients as notified in the government’s policy.

The management of Children’s Hospital, the Institute of Child Health, Principal of Allama Iqbal Medical College/Jinnah Hospital, Medical Superintendent Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Vice Chancellor of King Edward Medical University/Mayo Hospital, Principal of Post Graduate Medical Institute/Ameer-ud-Din Medical College/Lahore General Hospital, Medical Superintendent of Services Hospital, Lahore, Principal Govt Khawaja Muhammad Safdar Medical College, Sialkot, and others have separately written letters to Secretary Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education (SHC&ME) Department, Punjab, and demanded to modify the criteria of disbursement of extra pay/honorarium, specific to the staff involved in management of Covid-19 patients, to include entire staff of the hospitals across Punjab.

The managements of teaching hospitals across Punjab have stated that all of the staff members in hospitals are performing duties in the pandemic situation, therefore, all are exposed to the risk of infection. Therefore, the managements of all hospitals in Punjab unanimously demanded that the extra pay for Covid-19 pandemic must be given to all staff of all hospitals uniformly across the board and for providing quality healthcare services to the patients in the situation. The existing criteria to award honorarium to the staff performing duties for the management of Covid-19 patients is discriminatory and may lead to refusal to perform duties, by those who are not directly involved in management of Covid-19 patients, but remain vulnerable.