ILOILO City – A mass resignation of medical workers “could greatly affect” the healthcare system already under strain due to the coronavirus pandemic, warned the Department of Health (DOH). Thankfully in Western Visayas, it said, there are no threats of healthcare workers quitting en masse.
“We know the importance of our healthcare workers,” said Dr. Bea Camille Natalaray, medical officer at DOH Region 6.
If they have concerns, the better course of action is for the healthcare workers to seek clarification from proper authorities, she stressed.
Several groups of medical workers in private healthcare institutions – not in Region 6 – have complained not receiving particularly their Special Risk Allowance (SRA) and other benefits such as free transportation and medical allowance. They warned of a possible “mass resignation”.
“Kon kulang ang aton health human resources,” Natalaray said, “this could greatly affect the healthcare system of the country.”
SRA CONCERNS
In a statement, Dr. Adriano Suba-an, director of DOH-6, acknowledged the various concerns of healthcare workers, and particularly on their SRA.
The grant of the COVID-19 SRA is stipulated in Joint Circular No. 2 series of 2020 of the DOH and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). It covers both public and private health workers who are directly catering to or are in contact with COVID-19 patients.
“The grant of SRA not exceeding P5,000 per month that they are physically on duty is in recognition of the health workers’ heroic and invaluable contributions by being at the forefront of the national effort to address this COVID-19 pandemic,” Suba-an said.
According to the DOH, here are those eligible to receive the SRA:
* public health workers assigned in hospitals, laboratories or medical and quarantine facilities;
* private health care workers assigned in designated COVID-19 units of hospitals, laboratories, or medical and quarantine facilities as certified by DOH; and
* healthcare workers who physically report for work at their assigned work stations on the prescribed official working hours, as authorized by the head of office which placed them in direct contact with COVID-19 patients.
“The grant of the COVID-19 SRA is pro-rated based on the number of days that health workers physically report for work in a month as certified by their head of office,” Suba-an said.
The DOH allocated the corresponding amount for SRA based on the list of eligible health workers submitted by the head of office — whether hospital or local government unit, Suba-an emphasized.
Why are there delays in some areas?
Suba-an said these delays are maybe due to the late submission of documentary requirements among others, Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) from local government units and other health facilities to facilitate the transfer of funds and the actual payment.
“The COVID-19 has also affected some personnel which hampered the processing of documents,” he cited./PN
