Gov’t Allocates $540 Million To Continue Healthcare Workers Incentive Programme
By: , February 19, 2021
Photo: Mark Bell
Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, addressing the virtual COVID Conversations press conference on February 18. Others (from left) are Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dunstan Bryan, and National Epidemiologist, Dr. Karen Webster Kerr.The Full Story
The Government has allocated $540 million to continue the healthcare workers incentive programme for another nine months.
The initiative, officially launched on October 6, 2020, aims to boost staff morale and well-being in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its impact on workers in the sector.
Among the elements are human resource management, psychosocial support, rest and relaxation, COVID support, and wellness.
Speaking at a virtual press conference on Thursday (February 18), Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, explained that the initial programme had expired.
“The incentive will be resumed and there is $540 million budgeted for the next nine months to restore that programme. We think it is very important and our public health workers… deserve it.
They have been working very hard and so that programme is back on track,” he said.
Dr. Tufton said that healthcare workers are critical players in the fight against the COVID-19.
“I don’t need to underscore the importance of our healthcare workers and I want to again say, they are absolutely critical to the COVID response. [They] have been our heroes in many respects, and without them we just can’t make it work. We know they are under stress; we have to give them as much support as we can,” he said.