Coronavirus: Indonesian medical workers have pay slashed

Indonesian medical workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic have had their salaries and entitlements slashed.

A boy waits to receive a coronavirus antibody test from health workers at a village in Bali this week. Picture: AP

Indonesian medical workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic have had their salaries and entitlements slashed, despite government pledges to provide additional incentive payments for those working in hospitals handling COVID-19 patients.

National associations for both doctors and nurses have told The Weekend Australian they had fielded hundreds of complaints from workers who have not been paid their mandated Eid holiday bonus (usually amounting to a 13th month), and who had suffered salary cuts because of reduced hospital earnings.

Many have also seen nothing of the government’s promised incentive payments for frontline workers, despite thousands of them making huge personal sacrifices including living separately from their families and working long hours while trying to find ways of managing constant shortages of personal protective equipment.

“We are carrying out our duties and responsibilities. Is it too much to expect employers and the government to also carry out their duties and responsibilities?” said Indonesian Nurses Association spokesman Maryanto, who told The Weekend Australia that 74 hospitals in Jakarta alone had slashed basic pay or failed to pay Eid bonuses.

“Private hospitals are citing low bed occupancy rates to justify pay cuts while public hospitals are saying funds haven’t been sent by central or regional government.

“It’s sad to see the condition of our colleagues who have been working tirelessly for months, unable to go to their homes. We’re not asking for anything more than what we are entitled to.”

Dozens of doctors and nurses in Indonesia have died from COVID-19 since March, a toll industry advocates have blamed squarely on PPE shortages and overwork.

One intensive care nurse treating COVID-19 patients at Jakarta’s Fatmawati public hospital told the Jakarta Post this week that she and dozens of her colleagues had suffered pay cuts and had their Eid bonuses slashed.

“(My salary) was cut 30 to 40 per cent last month. My salary was also cut this month,” said Ratna, a university science graduate who has not been able to go home in two months.

Mutiara, a 29-year-old nurse at a private hospital in the Jakarta satellite city of Depok, told The Weekend Australian her pay had been halved in April even as the clinic was encouraging nurses to “be brave” and not turn away COVID-19 patients despite a critical PPE shortages.

Many doctors and nurses had been forced to go out and buy raincoats for protection.

There were similar stories across the country, with 35-year-old Makassar public hospital nurse Jemi Satria saying his pay had also been cut by half this month.

Indonesian Medical Association spokesman Halik Malik said many of his members had also been short-changed, despite hundreds of general and specialist doctors answering the call for volunteers to manage the country’s COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was and is a massive co-ordination of doctors across Indonesia to ready them for the front lines. Keeping that in mind, it’s only fair that these medical workers are assured of safety, security and fair compensation,” Dr Malik said.

“We hope the government can implement a simple system for hospitals to claim (expenses), so health workers who have shed blood, sweat, and tears handling COVID-19 patients can have their rights fulfilled in a timely manner.”