KUCHING: The delay in payment of allowances to medical health workers is due to the Health Department needing to review the growing list of recipients before submitting it to the Sarawak government.
Sarawak Health director Dr Chin Zin Hing said the final recipient list for the allowances provided under Sarawakku Sayang Special Assistance (BKSS) was sent last Wednesday.
“The Sarawak government has announced Covid-19 Special Allowance of RM300 under BKSS to appreciate and recognise the services and contributions of health workers in dealing with the pandemic in Sarawak.
“However, payments for June are still delayed due to some issues that needed to be resolved first by the Health Department together with the state government.
“Among them, reviewing and correcting data such as identity card number, name, account number and number of days on duty received from every health facility involved, causing delays to occur in granting a list of eligible recipients,” he said today.
Dr Chin said that on June 26, the state Economic Planning Unit (EPU) asked for a review on the list of recipients due to a significant increase, adding that only 7,124 recipients were eligible for the allowance.
“The Covid-19 allowance under BKSS is paid based on the list of names submitted by each health facilities based on the criteria that it is given to only Health Ministry frontline staff directly involved in high risk Covid-19 operations.”
Dr Chin said it is different to the claim procedure of the federal government Covid-19 allowance, which required recipients to apply through the Special Claim Form.
“Sarawak Health Department would like to apologise for any delay in business.
“All steps that have been taken by the department is intended to ensure that the list is flawless and according to the quota limit that has been set.”
