Health workers’ benefits still unpaid
FRONT-LINERS’ CALL Health workers on Monday join a “Black Hearts Day” protest at the Department of Health compound in Manila to condemn a proposed measure granting them benefits which they describe as divisive and discriminatory. | Marianne Bermudez
MANILA, Philippines — More than half of health-care workers in public and private facilities across the country have yet to receive the full amount of the One COVID-19 Allowance (OCA) that was granted to them, according to a union president of health-care workers.
Robert Mendoza, president of the Alliance of Health Workers told the Inquirer that about 60 percent of health-care workers have yet to paid their OCA, which grants P9,000 per month to those who work in high-risk areas, P6,000 to those in moderate risk and P3,000 for those in low-risk areas.
He said they were also awaiting the retroactive implementation of the health emergency allowance (HEA) from July to December last year, another COVID-related benefit under Republic Act No. 11712, or the Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances for Health Care Workers Act.
In April this year, RA 11712 was enacted to grant “continuing” benefits, such as HEA and death and sickness compensation package, to medical front-liners under a state of public health emergency.
“We call on [President Marcos] to instruct the (Department of Budget Management) and the (Department of Health) to release these pending benefits to boost the morale of our health workers,” Mendoza told the Inquirer.
