JUNE 23, 2020 LABOR DAY. Today, May 1, 2020, our team of health workers from the Cebu City Health Department conducted contact tracing and testing using swab samples in Sitio Lawis, Alaska, Mambaling.
CEBU CITY PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE PHOTO
CEBU CITY – Apart from their monthly salaries, Cebu health workers who volunteered to be deployed in Metro Manila and its neighboring provinces amid the surge in COVID-19 cases will each get incentives amounting to P70,000.
The amount would come from the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV), Cebu provincial government and the Cebu City government.
Secretary Michael Dino of OPAV on Wednesday said his office would give each volunteer a cash incentive of P5,000 per month or a total of P15,000 for three months.
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia also vowed to provide another P15,000 incentive or P5,000 per month for three months.
An additional P10,000 will be given when they return to Cebu.
Garcia said the province will also provide a three-month supply of vitamins and a wearable air purifier to each volunteer.
Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella, for his part, promised to give P10,000 per month or a total of P30,000, to each medical worker.
Last Wednesday, 11 doctors, 35 nurses, and four medical technologists from Cebu flew to Metro Manila to start their mission of helping their counterparts as COVID-19 cases continue to overwhelm hospitals.
In Eastern Visayas, at least 15 nurses and a doctor also volunteered to be sent to Metro Manila.
For the next three months, they will augment the medical workforce in Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal.
Dr. Nika Rota, one of the 11 doctors who volunteered to be deployed in Metro Manila, said they were aware of the situation but got the support of their families.
“It is difficult to say no to people who are asking help. I think that’s what they call the spirit of volunteerism,” he said.
The 50 healthcare workers from Cebu will be assigned at the National Kidney Transplant Institute, Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, Rizal Medical Center, and the Tondo Medical Center.