translated from Spanish: Health workers accuse the Government of not fulfilling labor commitments in the middle of the pandemic

Different health guilds have denounced the failure by the Health and Finance authorities to make commitments made to officials under the pandemic, mainly related to the 2020 Health Goals and the “User Treatment Bonus”. Health officials appeal that 2020 cannot be assessed as a normal year and therefore apply traditional criteria for delivering these bonuses. Aldo Santibáñez, president of the National Confederation of University Professionals of Health Services (Fenpruss), noted that “Since the pandemic began in our country both resources and staff have almost entirely advocated combating COVID-19, which has meant enormous wear and tear and even several deceased colleagues. For the same reason, venues cannot be asked to meet a normal year’s goals.” From the guild they explained that the “Health Goals” are indicators of management of health facilities, those that are established each year in order to evaluate their performance, and according to the compliance with these indicators, officials receive a quarterly bonus according to tranches. In this line if, for example, an enclosure met 90% or more of the targets, it is left in Section 1 and the staff receives a bonus corresponding to approximately 5.5% of their remuneration. Venues that meet between 75% and 89% of the targets are in Section 2, and their staff receive half. And when less than 75% is met, the venue is in Section 3 and the staff does not receive a bonus. The User Treatment Bonus, for its part, is a reward that is given once a year to health personnel in case they are well evaluated in a satisfaction survey that applies to users. According to the evaluation, the enclosures are also classified into three tranches with bonuses of different level. In view of the extreme reality generated by the pandemic, Santibáñez states that “We are asking that all and all officials be given for the fulfillment of the 2020 Health Goals and the User Treatment Bonus in Leg 1 is paid to all officials. Not only because of the inability to measure performance under normal criteria, but also as minimal recognition of the work we have done.” Fenpruss accuses the Ministry of Health of committing to evaluate these measures, but has so far refused to give concrete answers. “The health and finance authorities ‘throw the ball’, but we know that the resources for what we are asking for are not radically far from a normal year. This depends only on the political will of the authorities to recognize health personnel beyond applause,” Santibáñez.La also warns that the transfer of workers to health fees to recruitment remains, which is also compromised; as well as mass testing of health personnel to prevent future outbreaks of COVID-19 in establishments.

Original source in Spanish