HealthMin Tataru on 500-euro allowance: It's hazard pay for the period of the pandemic

Health Minister Nelu Tataru on Thursday evening stated that the 500-euro allowance is a hazard pay meant for the medical staff battling the COVID-19, to be paid during the entire period of the pandemic.

"This is a hazard pay that will be paid during the entire period of the pandemic to all those who work to fight the COVID infection. This is a pay that is granted for something that we have never seen before, something totally new, with a higher death rate and a higher infection rate than we have never known before. (...) This allowance is not just for the medical staff in Suceava, but for the entire medical staff, at all levels, including the auxiliary personnel, fighting the COVID-19, (all sections, all departments that have patients or treat patients infected with COVID, investigate COVID cases or give consultations to COVID patients. These patients who are being consulted are going through several sectors. All these sectors will receive this amount that is the equivalent of 2500 lei. This is a hazard pay and I want to treat it as a hazard pay that will be given during the entire period of the pandemic," Tataru told Digi 24 private television broadcaster.

According to him, the management of the hospital or the medical head will have to report the sections that treat COVID-19 patients, in order for the respective medical personnel to benefit from this allowance.