According to the FNV trade union, hundreds of healthcare workers fired because they suffer from lung covid complaints and have been ill for over two years now. Together with the trade union CNV, they are calling on politicians to provide financial assistance to these people. “We can’t solve health straight away, but we can solve the financial story.”
“Show that they feel responsible for these employees, who were sent into the field at the start of the corona crisis,” says CNV director Zorg & Welzijn Joost Veldt. “Sometimes without protective equipment. That is a risk that these people have taken and we have to take responsibility for that.”
Income submitted
After two years of absenteeism, an employer may fire someone. One temporary subsidy scheme for employers in the care sector, which was created by the cabinet, employers must encourage employees to continue to employ employees after two years. But the scheme will not come into effect until June.
“We assist our members in legal proceedings. After two years of sick leave, they not only lose their job, but also their income and BIG registration. Examination doctors are at a loss,” says Vice-President FNV Kitty Jong. “With long covid they can no longer work and it is unpredictable how their load capacity will be.”
Mariska Hoos got corona in the ambulance: “We worked with incorrect protocols and unsound material.” She has not recovered for 2 years and is now participating in an investigation into the cause of lung covid.
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The frustration of lung covid patients
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Veldt and Jong believe that the temporary arrangement is far from adequate. “It may help the employer to keep someone in service for another six months, but the employees do not see this in return. These people have lost income during their second year of illness and they are not compensated for that,” says Veldt. And that can add up considerably: for an average nurse, perhaps twelve thousand euros, says Veldt. “The scheme comes too late and is insufficient. People already have a huge income trap,” says Jong.
Half the cost
After dismissal, the employees receive disability benefits, which the unions think is a shame. Veldt: “We would like to keep these people in care. Especially if there is still a small chance of recovery, we have to grab it. We really have to do something for these people, because they have been in the front line for us.”
When asked, the Ministry of Health says that the subsidy scheme, which will also apply retroactively, will take time. The expectation remains June. “The basic principle is that we cover approximately half of the costs of continued payment of wages.” The government considers it reasonable to expect that the employer will also bear part of the costs.
The ministry also says about a possible separate arrangement for lung covid patients: “For social security entitlements, it is irrelevant whether there are long-term complaints after a corona infection, or other problems that lead to long-term illness or incapacity for work. “
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