Nurses group bares hospitals allegedly yet to receive allowances for their health workers

A nurses group bared Wednesday hospitals which are yet to receive allowances for their health workers catering to COVID-19 cases.

“Nanghingi sila ng tulong sa amin paano maipaparating sa pamahalaan na hindi pa nila natatanggap ang special risk allowances at active hazard pay,” Filipino Nurses United secretary general Jocelyn Andamo said during the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the matter.

(The nurses asked for our help how can they let the government know that they have yet to receive their special risk allowances and active hazard pay.)

“‘Yung mga nurse ay nagsasabi na kahit sila ay naka-assign sa COVID ward, nagcater sa mga nagpositive ng COVID ay wala po silang natanggap kahit nagsubmit sila ng requirements sa kanilang hospital management, wala silang natanggap. Sinabi na walang budget.)

(The nurses said that eventhough they were assigned at the COVID ward, catered to COVID-positive patients, and submitted requirements to the hospital management, they were not able to receive anything. They were told there was no budget.)

Andamo mentioned the Ace Medical Center in Cebu, Alcala Municipal Hospital in Cagayan Valley, Camiguin General Hospital, Chinese General Hospital, Cebu Provincial Hospital in Danao City, Dagupan Doctors Villaflor Hospital, Delos Santos Medical Center, Divine Word Hospital, Metropolitan Medical Center, nurse deployment program in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, outsourced nurses in district hospitals in Cebu, Pampanga District Hospital, Pasig City COVID Referral Center, San Lazaro Hospital, St Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City and BGC, among others.

“Itong na-collate namin ay ilan lamang po, ibig sabihin hindi pa po ito natatapos, ongoing pero actually gumawa rin kami ng online survey (These are just some of the hospitals, our list is not yet complete and we actually conducted an online survey),” said Andamo.

Asked for his comment, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III maintained that only healthcare workers with direct contact with COVID-19 patients are entitled to SRAs, even as billions of pesos of the department’s budget remains unobligated.

He said that only healthcare workers validated to have had direct contact with COVID-19 patients are given SRAs, as he cited Philippine laws.

“Meron po tayong validation process, so our hospital chiefs need to validate these. Hindi po pwedeng basta magbigay tayo. Kailangan talagang validated ng medical center chiefs,” he said.

(We have a validation process, so our hospital chiefs need to validate these. We cannot just give. This needs to be validated by medical center chiefs.)

This comes as the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged deficiencies in the use of P67.32-billion worth of COVID-19 funds, including P11.89 billion that remained unobligated as of December 31, 2020.

Senators on Wednesday said the DOH should have granted SRAs to all healthcare workers amid the pandemic, regardless whether they had direct contact with the COVID wards or not.

Duque claimed the DOH earlier fought for all healthcare workers to receive SRAs, but he said the laws do not cover this.

“Kung pwede lahat na lang ng mga empleyado sa hospital, bayaran natin. Pinaglaban po namin ‘yan, ng DOH, noong binubuo ‘yung batas. We fought for them,” he said.

(If only we can pay all employees of the hospital. We fought for this when the law was being drafted. We fought for them.)

The secretary noted, however, that if all healthcare employees would be granted SRAs, frontliners would receive smaller amounts.

“We agree and my problem is that the resources, once shared across many more individuals or healthcare workers, baka naman walang impact ‘yung kanilang makuha (maybe what they receive won’t have much impact.)"

For its part, the Commission on Audit (COA) said the DOH took part in the crafting of the guidelines, and it could have included all healthcare employees in the coverage.

“Normally when you issue a law and it provides for certain benefits for employees, the implementing guidelines are usually prepared by the DOH, so it’s I guess within the power of the DOH to a certain extent to provide who should be covered,” COA Chairperson Michael Aguinaldo said.

Aguinaldo also noted that there should be no problems releasing SRAs to all healthcare employees as COVID-19 is highly transmissible.—AOL, GMA News