KUALA LUMPUR: Civil servants are encouraged to contribute to the Covid-19 fund to ease the burden of those affected by the virus and in need of financial aid.
“The Covid-19 outbreak has impacted so many sectors, especially tourism. We encourage civil servants to contribute whatever they can to support affected parties,” Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) president Adnan Mat told Bernama yesterday.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin launched a special fund to provide financial aid to those in need following the virus outbreak.
Muhyiddin said as a start, RM1 million had been channelled to the fund to help unemployed Covid-19 patients and those under 14-day quarantine.
Adnan said the setting up of the fund could be viewed as a continuation of the economic stimulus package announced by former interim prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Malaysian Public Health Medicine Specialist Association president Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar urged more corporate firms to contribute to the fund.
“The initial RM1 million contribution is not very significant. It needs more, especially to help those who have lost their earnings because of the outbreak.”
He said in other countries, like Australia, employees affected by Covid-19 and quarantined were given paid leave.
The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) had raised concerns about the fund’s effectiveness in cushioning the financial problems affecting patients or those under quarantine.
MTUC president Datuk Abdul Halim Mansor said Covid-19 patients and those under 14-day quarantine had a social protection scheme.
He said the government should focus instead on strengthening the economy and solving retrenchment issues.
“While the special fund can be helpful, it is not a clear policy.
“MTUC has urged employers to take precautionary measures at the workplace to reduce the spread of the outbreak. Employers should provide the facilities without reducing the income of those involved.
“Besides providing company buses as transportation for workers to go to work and checking employees’ temperatures daily, employers should also allow workers to work from home.
“We are more concerned about the country’s productivity, which is slowing down not only due to the outbreak, but at all angles, which may result in retrenchment.”