LGUs ‘advised, authorized’ to get private health workers to aid mass vaccination

MANILA, Philippines — Local government units (LGUs) were “advised and authorized” to employ health workers from private hospitals if their manpower for the Covid-19 mass inoculation will not be enough, the president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) said Monday.

According to ULAP president and Quirino Gov. Dakila Carlo Cua, while LGUs have enough personnel for the vaccination program, the Department of Health (DOH) and the National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 have told them to tap health workers from private companies to help in the initiative.

“Yes we do [have enough personnel] and in the instance that LGUs do not have enough personnel, we were advised and authorized to tap the private practitioners as well, so the DOH and NTF have advised us na pwede makipag-partner (that we can partner) with private hospitals, private practitioners to enlarge the manpower behind the vaccination rollout,” Cua said in an online press briefing hosted by the DOH.

Asked about compensation for private health workers if they will be hired to help LGUs in their Covid-19 inoculation drive, Cua said: “We are working that out on an LGU basis right now, pending of course if the national government would give us any guidelines.”

“Pero night now, it’s on LGU-basis kung sakali man mag-tap tayo ng private sector health workers to join us in the vaccination rollout. But definitely meron naman kaming hinahanda at least for our LGUs,” he added.

(But right now, it’s on an LGU basis if we will tap private health workers to join us in the vaccination rollout. But definitely, our LGUs are preparing for that.)

Meanwhile, Cua said ULAP advises LGUs to establish their local Covid-19 vaccination operations centers with needed supplies and equipment for the vaccination.

The national government has earlier approved and ratified the “Philippine National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for Covid-19 Vaccines” – its mass immunization against SARS-CoV-2  as Filipinos hope for an end to the pandemic.

KGA