Latvian president sceptical about maintaining wages of medical workers at Covid-19 bonus pay level

By implementing the healthcare system wage reform, it will be possible to increase wages of medical workers to a level above the one prior to Covid-19 crisis, said Latvian President Egils Levits in an interview to LTV programme Rīta panorāma.
He met with Minister of Health Daniels Pavļuts yesterday, and the two discussed the issue of bonus pay for medical workers during Covid-19 pandemic. This bonus pay has significantly increased the income of medical workers. Officials believe it is necessary to complete the previously initiated healthcare system wage system, which would allow reaching fairer wages.
In the context of the bonus pay medical workers received during the pandemic, Levits stressed that this is a special situation that surfaced as a result of Covid-19 pandemic.
«If bonus pay is provided for a long time, people get used to it, but they should also keep in mind that it is nothing more than a crisis solution,» said the president.
He stressed that once the wage system has been reformed, medical workers should be provided with fair wage amounts that would be higher than what they had before the pandemic.
As previously reported, the topic of cancelling the bonus pay provided to medical workers during Covid-19 pandemic is very difficult, but Latvia’s healthcare system needs to start thinking about this now, said the chairman of the board of P.Stradins Clinical University Hospital Rinalds Muciņš in an interview.
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According to the head of the hospital, bonus pay of 100% provided to medical workers for work with Covid-19 patients has existed for two years, adding that for many it has become part of their wage. Cancelling this mechanism, according to Muciņš, would be akin to «moral hangover».
According to him, the wage reform, which was commenced during the term of then the Minister of Health Ilzes Viņķele would be a solution to this problem. However, recently there haven’t been any steps taken in this direction.