Further assistance suggested for HCMC Covid orphans

Covid-19 orphans under four years old should receive an extra VND1 million per month while older kids get VND800,000, continued until the recipient reaches 18, the HCMC Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs proposed to the city’s administration Tuesday.

The money is proposed on top of the amount stipulated under current regulations, which state that children who have lost both parents or their legal guardians to Covid-19 are given VND900,000 per month if they are under four, and VND540,000 if older.

In addition to financial aid, they are offered health insurance, exempted from tuition fees and other school expenses until the age of 16. Policies are maintained until the age of 22 if they enter college or vocational training schools, the rules state.

In its proposal, the department also suggested children who lost just one parent to Covid-19 should also be eligible for financial aid.

Children whose father or mother had died due to Covid-19 while, with their remaining parent suffering critical health problems and the family struggling with poverty should receive VND800,000 per month until the age of 18. In case the remaining parent is a manual worker and the family poor, aid would be VND480,000 per month.

The department also seeks to provide financial aid to people over 60 that cannot care for themselves, lost their caregivers to Covid-19, and belong to poor households VND1 million per month until they passed away.

By the end of October, Ho Chi Minh City had recorded 2,151 children left orphaned by Covid-19, comprising those losing both parents or one parent or their legal guardians.

The pandemic had also caused 383 people over 60 in the city to lose their caregivers.