Deputy Health Minister-designate, Dr Benard Okoe-Boye, has said it is only fair that not all healthcare personnel will get the 50% allowance promised by government.

He said as President Akufo-Addo announced, it should only be given to frontline health workers.

Speaking at his vetting in Parliament Wednesday, he explained that frontline health workers have been explained to mean those working at Covid-19 isolation treatment centres only.

"It had to do with people who were working at isolation centres where positive cases are being managed. So if you’re a cleaner at the isolation centre, you’re a security man, you’re a nurse, you’re a radiologist, once you’re at the centre where positive cases are being handled, you are a frontline worker and when you ask me what a frontline worker is,” he said.

He explained that due to the potential hazard of frontline workers getting infected with the virus, it is fair for them to be awarded the incentive package, as against every other health worker receiving the same package.

“I go to LEKMA hospital to consult sometimes. Although my risk is higher than the citizen on the street, the doctor at Ga- East which is an isolation treatment centre solely prepared for Covid patients, those who are positive, my risk cannot be the same as that doctor’s or nurse’s risk.

“So when any category isolates them for another package, fairness will let me appreciate what was happening,” he said.

However, he mentioned that the tax exemption for all health workers by the President was in recognition of the fact that all health workers were at some level of risk of being infected.

He also said he was grateful that some nurses who at first had been unhappy about the definition of frontline workers had finally come to appreciate what the President meant.

“And I am happy to mention that the nurses’ association that was unhappy about the announcement of  frontline [package], later, I listened to an interview from their leader and they said they now appreciate what the President meant by frontline, as he explained that it had to with people who were working at isolation centres where positive cases are being managed,” he said.