DOH to review 2022 budget to find funds for health workers’ risk allowance

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) will review its proposed 2022 budget to find funds for health workers’ special risk allowance (SRA) next year.

It was learned in the House deliberations on the DOH budget that the SRA for health workers is not included in the department’s 2022 budget and it is relying only on the passage of the proposed Bayanihan 3 law.

On Friday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the department has been tasked by the House of Representatives to find available funds in its budget since Bayanihan 3 is still “hanging in balance.”

“Napag-utusan kami ng House of Representatives na muling balikan ang aming budget para mairebisa at makita kung ano ang pwede nating mga i-forego muna for 2022 so that can identify budget or mai-set aside ang budget para dito sa SRA ng health care workers,” she said in an online media forum.

(We were tasked by the House of Representatives to review our budget so that we can revise it and see which programs can be foregone to set aside funds for the health workers’ SRA.)

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III explained that the SRA did not figure in the proposed DOH budget because the allocation for the department’s COVID-19 response was slashed by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Duque said the DOH had initially proposed P73.99 billion in COVID-19 funds but the DBM rejected it, reducing the allocation for pandemic response to only P19.68 billion.

Duque said the budget for the healthcare workers’ SRA was lodged in the proposed P401-billion Bayanihan 3 bill.

The House passed the proposed third stimulus package last June 1, but it remains pending in the Senate.

JPV