Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟) yesterday asked Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) to offer monetary compensation to medical personnel who have to forgo overseas travel due to a travel ban amid a COVID-19 outbreak.
There has been an increase in the workload of medical personnel since the novel coronavirus reached Taiwan, and they have been asked not to travel to countries and regions affected by the virus, Chen said at a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan.
Medical personnel live in fear of contracting the virus and have come under immense pressure from some members of the public, he said, adding that some couriers refuse to deliver food to hospitals.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Chen asked Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) how many medical personnel have been placed under travel restrictions, how much the government plans to compensate them daily and how the Ministry of Health and Welfare intends to spend its proposed NT$16.9 billion (US$561.7 million) slice of a NT$60 billion special budget for containing the epidemic and bailing out affected sectors.
About 320,000 medical personnel, including physicians, nurses and pharmacists, have been asked not to travel to countries and regions affected by the coronavirus, Chen Shih-chung said, adding that all of them would be compensated.
The ministry has set aside NT$1.8 billion for the research and development of drugs to treat COVID-19, NT$2 billion for compensating medical personnel and NT$4 billion to make up for possible shortfalls in these expenses, he added.
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) said that of the personnel treating COVID-19 patients, physicians would receive a daily subsidy of NT$10,000, nurses NT$5,000 per day and administrative workers NT$1,500.
Chen Po-wei said that the outbreak has reaffirmed the nation’s sovereignty, as some Taiwanese entertainers who had been Chinese “lapdogs” have suddenly become “proud Taiwanese,” adding that people who view this as a positive development should thank medical personnel combating the epidemic.
Su said that the government imposed the travel restrictions not because it wants medical personnel to work longer, but because 67 nations have been affected by the coronavirus.
The government would reimburse medical personnel for any losses they incur as a result of the travel restrictions, including any fees that have to be forfeited, he said.
International observers had predicted that Taiwan would be the second-most affected nation from COVID-19 after China, but the epidemic has been brought under control domestically, Su said, thanking all medical personnel who have dedicated themselves to containing the virus.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Finance and other concerned agencies would fine tune subsidy and compensation rules in the interests of medical personnel, he said.
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