Death of nurse spurs gov’t to check hospital compliance with hazard pays

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health on Thursday said it is working with the Department of the Interior and Local Government in ensuring local government units and public hospitals are adhering by guidelines, such as giving hazard pay to frontliners.

The health department issued the statement as it mourned the death by COVID-19 of a nurse who allegedly received a reduced hazard pay, as claimed by her daughter.

The nurse from Cainta Municipal Hospital allegedly received a reduced hazard pay.

“We are also working with the DILG to ensure that LGU hospitals adhere to our guidelines, which, from the beginning have placed primacy on caring for our healthcare workers by ensuring the provision of appropriate care, testing, and timely payments,” it said.

The DOH said it has already reached out to the nurse’s family.

“We are committed to bringing the welfare of our healthcare workers to the fore, which is why we lobbied for renewed benefit packages under the Bayanihan Act II. We will continue to proactively communicate the benefits our health workers are entitled to,” the health department added.

The nurse’s daughter, in a Facebook post, revealed that the family only received P7,000 from the local government for her monther’s hazard pay, when they were expecting P30,000.

The daughter wrote that her mother’s hazard pay was reduced from P500 to P64.18 per day. She added that the hospital failed to properly explain the deductions.

In a separate statement, the DILG has directed the Cainta local government to probe the alleged reduction of hazard pay.

Aside from the hazard pay issue, the DILG said the Cainta government must respond to allegations that it supposedly deprived the nurse to undertake a swab test when she was exposed to a COVID-19 patient. [ac]