Tk800 crore allocated for frontline Covid-19 fighters’ compensation

The finance ministry, in the next national budget, will allocate Tk800 crore to pay compensation for doctors, healthcare workers, plus other frontline government officers and employees infected with – or killed by – Covid-19.

Additionally, the government announced it will pay salaries for an additional two months as an incentive to doctors, nurses and technicians who are involved with the treatment of novel coronavirus patients. 

Officials at the Financial Division said to this end, there will be allocation of Tk200 crore in the budget for fiscal year 2020-21.

A senior official of the Finance Division who is involved with budget formulation said if doctors and healthcare workers involved in the treatment of novel coronavirus patients – as well as field administrators, law enforcement, security forces, plus other government officers and employees working to implement the government's guidelines to rein in the spread of the virus – contract Covid-19, they will receive between Tk5 lakh and Tk10 lakh, depending on their pay scale, as compensation.

The government will pay between Tk25 lakh and Tk50 lakh, depending on their pay scale, as compensation if they die because of the novel coronavirus, he added.

Since the detection of the first novel coronavirus cases in the country on March 8, a large number of the police force, government officers and doctors have been infected with the deadly virus. Meanwhile, some of them have died.

The government has made an allocation of Tk500 crore in the revised budget of the current fiscal year. In the upcoming budget, Tk800 crore will be allocated for the same purpose, officials confirmed.