PESHAWAR: The health department’s Covid-19 rapid response teams boycotted the duty of contact tracing and sample collection for the third consecutive day on Monday over the prolonged non-payment of stipend and said they won’t resume work until the dues were cleared.

The strike comes amid three more coronavirus-related deaths and 132 new cases in the province.

According to officials of the health department, the RRTs are tasked with collecting samples from suspected Covid-19 cases for investigation and tracing of the contacts of patients in the province.

They told Dawn that the department had been testing more than 10,000 tests daily in line with the guidelines of the National Command and Operation Centre to speed up case detection and get a clear picture of the geographical infection prevalence.

The officials said the boycott of work by RRTs had significantly affected coronavirus testing as they were the only field force deployed for sample collection from suspected persons and from close contacts of the positive people.

They said the teams transported the samples to the respective offices of the district health officers from specific and was sent to the public health laboratories for PCRs.

Members say they will resume work only after dues cleared

The officials said funds had been released and reimbursement process was in progress.

“The payment claims will be settled after fulfillment of all codal formalities. Such teams are working in all provinces to know the level of infection and take steps accordingly. It is a national duty and therefore, we are ensuring early payments,” an official claimed.

Dr Noor Ahmad of the Young Doctors Association told Dawn that the strike would continue till all payments weren’t made to RRTs in a single go.

“The health department has released only stipend for two months, which isn’t acceptable to us. We use our own vehicles for the work. We need money for fuel,” he said.

According to Dr Noor, the RRT members go to the field to collect for testing samples of suspected cases on rapid kits. Thirty per cent of the positive ones are sent for PCR test on the basis of which the health department releases daily Covid-19 situation report.

Dr Noor, who is part of the Mardan RRT, said the teams stayed connected with the Provincial Disaster Management Authority officials via Internet from the field to complete tasks but despite several requests, the health department didn’t release money to clear their dues leading to protests.

He said over 280 teams each comprising three members were supposed to get swabs from suspected Covid-19 cases and 15 close contacts of the positive ones.

“Members of the RRTs were hired in April 2020 after the first death from coronavirus in Mardan to strengthen surveillance against the virus,” he said.

The RRT member said the teams reported to the PDMA, which ran the project, and had nothing to do with the health department and therefore, the PDMA should be empowered to make the payments.

He said around 80 per cent of team members were infected with the virus and many of them transmitted it to their family members.

“We transport coronavirus samples for PCR testing in our own vehicles. It is very risky. Until now, over 100 doctors and other health workers have died of Covid-19 in the province, so we demand an immediate release of the entire stipend amount and the introduction of a proper mechanism to ensure prompt payments in future,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2022