Bali Refutes Reports, Says Incentivizing Covid-19 Healthcare Workers

DENPASAR, NusaBali.com - Refuting allegations of late payment of incentives to Covid-19 healthcare workers, the Bali provincial government has said more than 22.85 billion Indonesian rupiahs (about US$1.57 million) have been allocated for the workers since June, 2021.

"What caused Bali to get a warning through letter (from the Internal Affairs Ministry) was the mention that Bali has not liquidated the incentives for Covid-19 healthcare workers," regional secretary of Bali province, Dewa Made Indra, said in a press release issued in Denpasar on Monday.

As of June this year, 48.60 percent of the Rp47.01 billion (about US$3.2 million) allocated to incentivize healthcare workers has been disbursed, he informed.

Therefore, the Bali provincial government should not have been included in the warning letter issued by the Internal Affairs Ministry over the implementation of the program, he stressed.

"And (the program's implementation) has been informed through a written report to the Finance Ministry and the Internal Affairs Ministry as of July 7, 2021," he further said.

The report details allocations under the national health budget for Covid-19 handling and other prioritized purchases, he added.

He said he got in touch with the Directorate General of Regional Finance Development on Sunday (July 18 2021) with regard to the liquidation of incentives for healthcare workers.

"After a check, the data that was used has not been updated as of July 7, 2021, whereas until June, 2021, Bali has already paid (incentives), while in July (the disbursal of incentives) obviously is still ongoing," he added.

Earlier, Internal Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian had said he had issued a written warning to 19 provinces, including Bali, over the disbursal of incentives to healthcare workers.

Aceh, West Sumatra, Riau Islands, South Sumatra, Bengkulu, Bangka Belitung Islands, West Java, Yogyakarta, and West Nusa Tenggara were also issued a warning.

Other provinces included in the warning were West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, North Sulawesi, Gorontalo, Maluku, North Maluku, and Papua.

The warning came amid reports that Bali was yet to begin disbursing incentives to healthcare workers, sourced from refocusing 8 percent of the DAU/DBH budget for 2021, under which Rp 25 billion (about US$1.7 million) was laid out by the regional revenue and expenditure budget (APBD) 2021. *ant