Honorarium for frontline, other COVID-19 workers

THE ST. KITTS AND NEVIS GOVERNMENT WILL PAY frontline workers an honorarium by this month end promised Prime Minister, Dr Terrence Drew

“The ministry is presently collecting the data for the honorarium so that they can process… to be able to pay…front-line workers,” PM Drew said during an interview on the radio programme ‘Issues’ on Freedom FMM.

Drew, who is also Health Minister, defended the measure, reminding listeners about the vital role frontline workers played during the outbreak of the highly-contagious and deadly COVID-19 disease which killed 6.5 million globally and 46 in the twin-island Federation.

The government’s honorarium to frontline workers is its way of expressing gratitude for the sacrifices they made to help protect citizens and residents during the two-year deadly global outbreak.

“We are going to pay the honorarium by the end of this month. As I said during the campaign trail that even though we found out that some persons were paid. There was a lot of fear and rightly so. Because of the implications it had and scientists are still trying to find out what we were dealing with and they put themselves out there,” Drew said lauding the healthcare workers.

PM Dr Drew, a Cuba and US-trained medical specialist the Labour Party as the main opposition and no the ruling party remains forever thankful and grateful remembering that they stayed the course in the face of tremendous and frightening odds.

“You can’t really pay them for that risk, but you can show an appreciation for what they were doing. I was attacked and some said that this is a national issue as it is country above self. Why is the doctor talking about paying people for what is a national effort only to find out afterward that the (then health) minister (Akila Byron-Nisbett) received $27,000?” Drew said recalling the rhetorical queries of many Basseterre skeptics.

That Byron-Nisbett was granted a honorarium and not her healthcare workers is still “an insult” to them, Drew noted arguing she was among the least exposed yet secured a honorarium.

“I would say that…the maids at the hospital who were taking out the garbage of those persons who were ill with the virus and whatever they were discarding exposing themselves. You then had a minister who was least exposed and then gotten an honorarium that was more than the salary for a year that was more than the workers. I am not saying that they should get that but at least they should get something that is why we are going to pay an honorarium,” the PM reasoned.

Additionally, the Prime Minister announced his administration will also be offering a gratuitous payment as well for all persons who lost their jobs because they refused to take the Covid 19 vaccine.

“It is (only for) those who didn’t take their vaccine and lost their job, so that definition is very specific,” the PM reiterated.

Drew said his two-month-old administration is also seeking ways to employ workers who previously ensured the population was covid-compliant but dismissed as soon as the deadly outbreak subsided.

“We had the Covid 19 compliance workers who were responsible to ensure that people do what was expected, like putting on their masks and so on. However, now that the Covid has reduced, many of them have been sent home.”

“We just can’t send home people like that. So, we are seeking to find ways to keep them employed,” Drew disclosed.