Health workers seek government action on unpaid COVID-19 benefits

In this June 2020 photo, health workers are on standby to help COVID-19 patients at a quarantine facility set up at the Philippine Arena complex in Bocaue, Bulacan. (File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Health workers have called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to intercede in the payment of their long-delayed health emergency allowance (HEA) as their demands for its release have apparently fallen on deaf ears.

In a letter dated Feb. 27, the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) said that since the lifting of the state of health emergency on July 21, 2023, the allowance has yet to be released to all health workers in public and private hospitals who placed their lives at risk by serving at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We respectfully request for a dialogue with you, President, to discuss this matter and seek your intervention in ensuring that the HEA is promptly given to us health workers by the Department of Health [DOH] and [Department of Budget and Management],” the AHW said.

The letter was personally delivered by AHW national vice president Jose Espanillo, along with officials of hospital unions, to Malacañang and the DOH main office in Manila on Tuesday.

READ: COVID-19 allowances to be fully paid by 2026 – DOH

“These allowances are crucial for our well-being and morale as front-line health workers who have been tirelessly working to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and provide essential health-care services to our fellow Filipinos. Despite the sacrifices and risks we faced, it is demoralizing to see that the HEA has not been provided to us,” the group said.

According to the AHW, the DOH is currently withholding the HEA funds totaling P316.6 million covering the period between July 2021 and July 2023 despite the issuance of guidelines and memorandums of agreement (MOA). The allowance is intended for government-owned and controlled corporation hospitals, such as the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, the Philippine Heart Center, and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center.

In December, the DOH released Department Order No. 2023-0638, stating the guidelines on the disbursement of HEA payments to health workers in these specialty hospitals.

On Feb. 8, the DOH issued a MOA to the respective heads of the hospitals, which immediately returned the signed agreements to the DOH.

“But until now, the benefits [owed by the government to us] are not yet provided. The DOH has been using the Commission on Audit as a reason for not releasing the benefits that we are entitled to,” the AHW said.

“More so, there is no full provision of HEA to private hospitals and [local government unit] hospitals from 2021 until now,” it added

Under the 2024 national budget, P18.96 billion has been allocated to cover the payment of HEA claims from public and private health workers.

Under Republic Act No. 11712 or the Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances for Health Care Workers Act which was enacted on April 27, 2022, health-care workers are entitled to the allowance for every month of service while the country is under a state of public health emergency.

It sets an allowance of P3,000 for those deployed to low-risk areas, P6,000 for those in medium-risk areas, and P9,000 for those in high-risk areas.

In December last year, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa projected that it would take until 2026 for the government to pay in full its obligations to all eligible health workers amounting to P62.9 billion.