Workers in Vietnam’s HCMC receive sickness benefit

Over 134,000 employees benefited from the country’s social insurance law with the sickness benefits amounting to nearly VND295 billion (US$12.9 million).

Many employees reported that the social insurance agencies remitted the financial aid to their bank accounts within six days from the time they submitted relevant documents.

Relevant documents include photocopies of hospital discharge chits for inpatient treatment or certificates of sick leave for outpatient treatment, said director of the Ho Chi Minh City Social Insurance Phan Van Men.

Besides the sickness benefit, infected employees will also receive health recovery benefits if they have not fully recovered within 30 days of returning to work. These employees will be eligible for financial aid of 30% of their fixed salaries for five to 10 days, amounting to VND447,000 (US$19.5) per day.

However, many employees are facing difficulties in submitting the relevant certificates due to some of them not receiving treatment at hospitals. As such, the Ministry of Health has proposed that seven other types of documents be used to claim sickness benefits.

READ: Vietnam’s digital transformation accelerated in 2021

They include: a decision to perform home isolation issued by local authorities; a certificate of completion of the quarantine period issued by local authorities; positive rapid test results or PCR test results of COVID-19 issued by medical facilities; confirmation for COVID-19 infected people from commune and ward health stations, mobile medical stations, community COVID-19 teams or medical agencies or enterprises; and a certificate of taking annual leave to enjoy social insurance issued by commune-level health stations or mobile medical stations,  according to Saigon Online.