Scandal! Some Hungarian healthcare workers received only half of their salaries

Photo: kormany.hu

Hungarian healthcare professionals who risk their lives by working with Covid-19 patients have only received a part of their salaries. But where is the rest?

According to Blikk, there are Hungarian healthcare workers who only received half the amount of their total salaries – which should have included compensations for extra working hours and increased risk in the working conditions.

What happened?

The healthcare workers in question are amongst those who had to be transferred to the intensive care units of the epidemic hospitals. After asking the institutions, some of the workers were told that there was a mistake during the preparations of their payrolls; the necessary information was not transferred to those institutions where they originally worked and from where they would receive the compensations.

Due to this administrative error, the healthcare workers will not receive the total amount until next month.

Professional healthcare workers would receive a 50% pay rise due to the higher amount of pressure and increased risk in the working conditions. They have to work 12-hour-long shifts with Covid-19 patients who are in serious conditions. However, more than 60% of the healthcare professionals assigned to the National Korányi Institute for TB and Pulmonology in Budapest have received a lot less than they should have; the 50% extra was not transferred to them. Adrianna Soós, director of the Independent Health Trade Union of Hungary, was also informed about the delay of the payment of compensations in Korányi. Apparently, the two institutions, the workers’ original institution and the one to which they were assigned due to Covid-19, could not reach a consensus on the financial conditions.

However, this is not the only issue healthcare workers have to face. Adrianna Soós informed Blikk about other cases when professionals got infected from the patients, had to stay home for weeks, and received the total of their sick pay only months later.

According to the Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources (EMMI), the healthcare workers’ original institution should pay the 50% compensation, and the institution they are now assigned to should pay the other one later. The Ministry highlighted that for the payments to be successful, the original institutions should receive all the necessary data about the workers.