More than half of pandemic benefits paid

FRONT-LINERS Health workers prepare for duty at Santa Ana Hospital in Manila. —File photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) has disbursed, as of Sept. 20, some 64 percent or around P17.4 billion of the P27.3 billion additional budget earmarked for unpaid health emergency allowances (HEA) of medical front-liners who served during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The additional budget was released in July by the Department of Budget and Management upon the directive of President Marcos.

According to the DOH, the money was partly sourced from the P20 billion that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) remitted to the national treasury from its unused government subsidy, in compliance with the 2024 General Appropriations Act and a Department of Finance circular.

Among the health facilities that recently received HEAs for their staff were Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City and Gentri Medical Center and Hospital in General Trias, Cavite.

Of the P103.5 billion in HEA payments due from 2021 to 2023, almost 90 percent or P92.6 billion, had already been paid, according to the DOH.

The DOH earlier scheduled the payout of P27.3 billion in tranches of P10.1 billion in July, P9.8 billion in August, and P4.6 billion in September.

The remaining P2.9 billion to be disbursed in October is for HEA payments in the DOH Central Office, Cagayan Valley, Western Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region and Soccsksargen.

The DOH said it had issued checks to 2,070 health facilities, or 73 percent of the total 2,853 facilities with unsettled HEA obligations.

Cause of delay

The remaining 27 percent, covering mostly private and local government-owned hospitals, have yet to complete the documentary requirements, leading to delays in the release of HEAs for their medical workers.

Under current rules, these non-DOH facilities must first execute a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the DOH before fund transfers can take place. All previously transferred funds for HEAs should also be fully liquidated.

“In compliance with Commission on Audit guidelines, the DOH is continually reminding 517 of them to finalize the MOA, and 649 of them to completely liquidate previous payments,” the department said.

PhilHealth remittances

The payment of HEAs is provided for 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.

Under the law, health-care workers should get HEAs for every month of service while the country is under a state of public health emergency. It set 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.

Meanwhile, PhilHealth has already remitted a total of P30 billion to the national coffers—P20 billion in May, and P10 million in August.

Two more transfers are scheduled: P30 billion in October, and the remaining P29.9 billion in November for a total of P89.9 billion.