Russian medics are given bonus of just £8 for risking their lives on the coronavirus front line

• Doctors were promised a monthly bonus of up to £900 for treating virus patients
• Many posted photos of pay cheques where the extra money amounted to £8 
• Russia now has the world’s second-highest number of coronavirus infections
• Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19

Medics in Russia have been rewarded with a bonus of just £8 for putting their lives on the line in the fight against coronavirus.

President Vladimir Putin went on national television in April to promise doctors a monthly bonus of up to £900 for treating virus patients.

But when doctors opened their April pay slips, most saw no sign of these generous sums.

Many posted photos online of pay cheques where the extra money amounted to £8 or less – or nothing at all.

Medics in Russia have been rewarded with a bonus of just £8 for putting their lives on the line in the fight against coronavirus. Pictured: a paramedic in Moscow 

Maria, a 24-year-old doctor working outside Moscow, actually saw her salary shrink after she was forced to self-isolate.

‘I hoped that if I came in contact with the infection, I would also get some extra money,’ said Maria, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing she could damage her career prospects.

After a patient she visited and swabbed tested positive, Maria was ordered to self-isolate for two weeks. When she got her April salary, it was cut from £400 to just £150, adjusted for her time off.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin acknowledged the problem but blamed regional authorities.

‘There are problems with payments even in regions most hit by the infection, where the workload on medics is at the maximum,’ he admitted.

There were also reports of hospital bosses paying the bonuses on a per minute spent with corona patient basis and then using the rest of the cash from the £300,000 pot elsewhere.

With more than 242,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and cases steadily rising, Russia has the world’s second-highest number of infections.

Andrei Konoval, head of the Action union of medical workers, said Putin’s bonus promise had sounded ‘very attractive, but it has resulted in huge disappointment among doctors’.

‘This looks like a cruel joke to medical workers.’

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