Sindh doctors, paramedics fighting COVID-19 to get special allowance

KARACHI: Sindh government has decided to provide a special allowance to the employees of the provincial health ministry in acknowledgement of their services during COVID-19 pandemic, ARY NEWS reported.

A summary in this regard has been forwarded to the Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah from the secretary health for final nod.

The ministry said that the services of the doctors while tackling the pandemic were extra ordinary and therefore they should be given an extra allowance for it.

Other paramedical staff has also played its pivotal role in dealing with the COVID-19, the summary said while also recommending a special allowance for them.

The chief minister Sindh has also lauded the medics and said they were the frontline soldiers in their fight against the infection.

It is pertinent to mention here that as reported on April 12, the doctors and paramedical staff members were becoming victims of coronavirus pandemic now while fighting the COVID-19 on front line.

The latest statistics showed an alarming figure of medics infected with the novel coronavirus while performing duties in different hospitals or came in contact with those performing duties in special isolation centres or laboratories.

It emerged that 17 staff members of Karachi’s Civil Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Trauma Centre tested positive for COVID-19. At least six doctors and seven paramedical staff members, whereas, a doctor and three paramedics performing duties in the emergency ward of Civil Hospital found infected with the virus.

In Karachi, the total count of coronavirus cases in medics reached 31 after the emergence of new cases. The overall figure includes two doctors and two paramedical staff from the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) of Karachi.

The health authorities have immediately acted upon the new cases and shifted the medics to isolation wards. The administration of the hospitals also disinfected the concerned wards.