COVID-19 frontliners in Cebu City gov’t hospitals to receive financial incentives

CEBU CITY –– Cash incentives await selected medical frontliners from government hospitals and health units in this city in recognition of their efforts to save lives amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Cebu City Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, committee on budget and finance chairman, said the council had approved a resolution allocating P37 million for the “special risk allowance” and “hazard pay” of medical frontliners from the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), Guba Hospital, City Health Department (CHD) and barangay health workers (BHWs).

Jeffrey Ibones, CHD officer-in-charge, said selected medical frontliners would receive not more than P3,000 per month as hazard pay and P5,000 as special risk allowance.

He said they were still evaluating who among the medical frontliners would receive the special risk allowance and hazard pay.

“Some of them can receive both hazard pay and risk allowance, while others can only receive the hazard pay. That will still undergo validation,” Ibones said in a media interview.

He said the special risk allowance would be given only to frontliners who handled patients with COVID-19 from Sept. 15 to Dec. 15, 2020.

Ibones said the hospital administrator of the CCMC and Guba Hospital would conduct the validation and submit the list of qualified medical workers to the city government.

Early this month, the city government started distributing the third and final tranche of financial incentives to 1,800 doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel working in the different private hospitals here.

Each of the recipients will receive P10,000 each.

Last year, they got P20,000 from the city for a total of P30,000 each as promised by Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella.

Labella earlier said he wanted to boost the morale of “exhausted” healthcare workers in hospitals.

“(We do this) as a token of gratitude for their efforts against COVID-19. We know the risks they face during this pandemic. They deserve whatever help we can give them,” he said.

LZB