An online petition calling for student radiographers to be paid during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has gathered over 2,300 signatures.

By Gavin Tracey | Apr 1 2020

The petition states that “final year radiography students are about to commence their final block of clinical placement next Monday 30th March. We are delighted to see that student nurses are to be paid for their work during the COVID-19 crisis. While this is welcome news, and deserved by these frontline workers, student radiographers cannot help but ask why we are not offered the same.” 

UCD Students’ Union have thrown their weight behind the campaign, calling for student radiographers to be paid during placement. A UCD radiography student said “In this time of crisis, a chest x-ray is the most valuable exam the hospital can offer potential COVID-19 patients. An exam which we as radiographers will be performing. Being on the frontline and coming in close contact with COVID-19 patients everyday is a huge risk – and students deserve to be paid for this work”

UCDSU President Joanna Siewierska said that they “echo the calls made by our radiography students and the thousands of individuals who have signed petitions in support of them and we are calling on the HSE to respond to this situation and pay our students for the vital work that they are doing as part of the national response to COVID-19.”