PESHAWAR: The families of the health workers, who died of Covid-19 at the public sector hospitals, have been waiting for compensation package approved by the government in April last year.

“Health department hasn’t paid Rs7 million to each of the healthcare providers, who died of Covid-19 at the government hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We request the government to hand over the amount to us,” son of a deceased paramedic told Dawn.

He said that his father was the only bread earner of the family and they desperately required help.

The package was approved by finance department in November last year according to which the heirs of the health workers, who die of coronavirus, will be given one-time assistance regardless of their ranks.

The provincial cabinet in April last year approved the compensation package after which finance department agreed to it and asked the health department to fulfil codal formalities to be able to get the money.

Govt approved package for healthcare providers in April last year

A total of Rs120 million has been approved for the families of 17 deceased health workers.

The provincial government has extended assistance to only one affected family so far as the children of Prof Mohammad Javed have received the compensation amount.

Dr Javed, the head of ENT department at Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, was the first doctor to die of Covid-19 in Pakistan.

Health officials said that it was being processed and the people would soon get the compensation amount.

Provincial Doctors Association also reminded the health department to step up the process and enable the bereaved families to get the amount.

In a letter, sent to the director-general health services, the association pointed out that most of the dead people were the lone bread earners of their families and their death landed them in harsh economic difficulties.

It said that the amount was already sanctioned so it should be paid to the affected families as soon as possible.

PDA said that 79 medics including 48 doctors had died of Covid-19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It urged the department to award compensation to the families of all the deceased health workers after fulfillment of necessary requirements.

“It will not only help the needy families economically but they will feel honoured. Most of dead health workers came into contact with infected patients and got Covid-19. The pandemic is likely to stay around for several months, therefore, the government should promptly process the matter to shift the amount to the families,” it said.

A government report said that the pandemic killed 39 healthcare professionals in public sector health facilities and 3,319 got infected in the province.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the only province to announce financial package for the dead healthcare providers.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2021