MANILA, Philippines — The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) on Saturday criticized the proposed 2021 budget of the Department of Health (DOH), saying it showed that the health programs for addressing COVID-19 crisis were not being prioritized.
“The DOH FY (Fiscal Year) 2021 NEP amounts to P127.28 billion higher by P27 billion of the 2020 approved DOH budget of P100.559 billion. This is only 2.82% of the 2021 proposed National Budget and only 0.6% of the GDP. This proposed DOH budget is akin to allotting P3.16 health budget per Filipino per day,” read the statement.
According to the group, the budget is too small and cannot meet the “health needs of the people and the public health system that is driven by the crisis.”
The group said that this showed that the government “does not care about public health services.”
“Government authorities do not value our health workers while they are dedicated to patient care. Public hospitals reduced their MOOE and do not have Capital Outlay for free health services,” the group said.
READ: BY THE NUMBERS: The proposed 2021 national budget
[small]