VARIOUS health workers' groups conducted a protest action in front of the office of the Department of Health (DOH) in Manila on Wednesday, September 1, 2021, to amplify their call for the resignation of DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III.
The protest action was held a day after some HCWs walked out of their workplaces.
Duque has said that he will step down as DOH secretary after the agency is cleared by the Commission on Audit (COA) over the reported deficiencies in the use of pandemic response funds amounting to P67 billion.
On Wednesday, the protesters repeated their call for the government to release benefits including the special risk allowance (SRA), active hazard duty pay, and allowances for meals, accommodation, and transportation (MAT).
The DOH earlier clarified that the SRA is given to healthcare workers who deal with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients in both public and private hospitals, regardless of their employment status.
The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), however, said even security guards, hospital sanitary personnel and those who were not assigned in Covid-19 wards should receive the SRA as they were also at risk of Covid-19 while in the performance of their duties.
Under the guidelines issued by the DOH, public and private health workers directly catering to Covid-19 patients are entitled to an SRA of not more than P5,000 per month from December 20, 2020 to June 30, 2021.
The DOH clarified that the SRA is prorated based on the number of days during which the HCW physically reports for work.
On Tuesday, DOH undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said P237.28 million of the P311 million funds dedicated for the SRA of the additional 20,208 health workers, have already been disbursed to local government units (LGUs) and private hospitals.
She said the remaining P74.51 million in SRA funds are also ready for distribution to LGUs and private hospitals.
Vergeire said the DOH is continuously accepting lists of the health workers who did not receive their SRA benefits in order to seek a budget from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
She said they were also looking for funds for the MAT allowance.
Vergeire said the funds for MAT amounting to around P11 billion was downloaded to hospitals in December 2020 but it was returned to the DOH due to lack of guidelines for its use.
"MAT was there but unfortunately last December nung nilabas ang pera 'yung ibang hospital hindi makagamit because there are these process na nahihirapan sila magcontract ng hotel (for accommodation of HCWs), nagbibigay sila ng food but healthcare workers sinasabi nila hindi naman sila nakakakain sa oras so sometimes napapanis," she said.
"And patapos na rin kasi ang taon so matatapos na rin ang validity ng pera kaya binalik sa amin and ginamit muna namin sa ibang bagay for Covid-19 response," she added.
Vergeire said it was only in June that the Office of the President approved the release of MAT. (VoxPop Philippines)