Health workers emergency allowance fully paid by end 2025 —DBM

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is targeting to settle all the unpaid arrears for the Health Emergency Allowance (HEA) by the end of next year.

In a statement on Tuesday, the DBM said Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman committed, during Monday's public hearing and inquiry of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, that arrears of the HEA are fulfilled by the end of 2025.

“The health workers are our priority. The HEA is in the SONA (State of the Nation Address) of our President. Whenever we see each other, he reminds us about it. My promise is, by 2025, it will be fully paid,” Pangandaman said.

To date, the Budget Department said it has disbursed a total of P91.283 billion to the Department of Health (DOH) for the Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances (PHEBA) covering all healthcare workers’ benefits from 2021 to 2023. 

PHEBA covers Special Risk Allowance (SRA), compensation for COVID-19 sickness and death, as well as additional benefits like meals, accommodation, and transportation allowances for healthcare workers.

Of the amount, P73.261 billion has been allocated for HEA.

During the Senate hearing, Pangandaman bared the DBM’s strategy to settle the remaining P27.7 billion arrears for the HEA.

She said the first step involves utilizing a P2.3-billion unprogrammed appropriations (UA) fund contingent upon the collection of excess revenue.

“We are just awaiting certification from the Bureau of Treasury on excess revenue,” said Pangandaman.

Last year, the DBM said an additional P7 billion, taken from the UA, was released for HEA.

The Budget Department will also look into the internal budget of DOH and identify possible realignment for the program.

Moreover, Pangandaman committed that the necessary resources to address the deficiencies in HEA would be prioritized in the drafting of the 2025 National Budget.

For his part, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa thanked the Senate Committee on Health as well as the DBM for aiding in the resolution of all HEA concerns.

“We’ve been able to receive the budget from the DBM from the 2022 and 2023 GAA (General Appropriations Act), and we’ve been able to disburse almost 99%,” said Herbosa.

For fiscal year 2024, the DBM has released a total of P19.996 billion to the DOH. 

Herbosa, however, said there have been challenges in the disbursement of the fund. 

“As for the budget this year, our disbursement rate is only about 48% but the fund is already with us,” he said.

The Budget chief, meanwhile, urged healthcare worker representatives to collaborate closely with DOH to ensure the smooth implementation and timely disbursement of HEA. —KBK, GMA Integrated News