The allowance sickness benefit shall be granted unhindered and in the event that the beneficiary of the sickness insurance Electronic National Social Security Agency (e-EFKA) get sick from coronavirus, as in any other case of sickness. Because the patient is obviously unable to produce the required medical certificate during the period of illness, the standard provision for dealing with unjustified impediment in producing it applies.
In particular, given that in the present case it is not easy to obtain a medical opinion, due to the restriction (by health and administrative order), the patient-eligible insured persons present the medical certificates issued by their doctors, at a later time, after their health has been restored and the restriction lifted.
As in any other case of sickness, the medical opinion is necessary to determine the severity of the disease, which can range over a wide spectrum from complete absence of symptoms (a completely asymptomatic patient who may be teleworking and therefore not entitled to an allowance) up to cases of serious illness requiring hospitalisation and to determine the corresponding period of absence from work in order to pay the appropriate allowance.
As stated in a relevant announcement of the e-EFKA, «the above have already been applied without problem in a large number of cases of insured persons of the e-EFKA who became ill and, subsequently, have already submitted the relevant applications, despite the witticisms that have been reproduced in recent days, sometimes to attract customers».
