Ambulance doctors strike

Baku/07.05.21/Turan: Employees of Ambulance Substation 9 in the capital's Binagadi district have refused to go out to calls since the evening of May 6. They are protesting the non-payment of four times the salary promised to them by the authorities in exchange for their participation in coronavirus-fighting activities (COVID-19).

Doctors at the substation claim they have not received their promised allowance since January of this year.

Furthermore, health workers claim that they have not been provided with the necessary protective equipment against the virus.

"As a result of this, we are infecting our family members," said one doctor.

Doctors at the substation receive a basic salary of 440 manat, which increases to 1,720 manat when multiplied by four, but no one has seen this money.

Rauf Nagiyev, the head doctor of the Baku Ambulance Station, arrived and gave explanations to protesters. The doctors returned to work an hour later, According to information given to Turan by the State Agency for Compulsory Health Insurance.

In February of this year, 1,542 emergency personnel were paid a total of 250,072 manats, according to the same source. The allowances are based on the amount of time spent participating in anti-coronavirus measures and on work sheets.

In terms of protective equipment, the Agency said that health-care staff were given all of the appropriate equipment to protect their health and that they were all vaccinated.-0-