The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday (Aug. 28) appealed to healthcare workers to reconsider going on protests and to instead focus on hospital operations.
“Kami pa rin ay nakikiusap sa ating mga healthcare workers because ito po ay makaka-apekto nang maigi sa ating operations sa ating ospital. Nakikita naman po natin ang kalagayan o sitwasyon ng ating mga ospital ngayon,” DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said during the Laging Handa public briefing on Saturday.
“Ganitong mga kilos or actions ay sana po maiwasan po muna natin, ipagbigay-daan muna po natin iyong ating pagmamalasakit sa ating mga pasyente,” she added.
According to Vergeire, the DOH is doing all that it can to give healthcare workers the benefits they need.
This comes after the Filipino Nurses United’s (FNU) expression of a planned protest action on Sept. 1 if their special risk allowance (SRA) will not be released by then.
Vergeire also said that they are in communication with the legislative bodies in creating a ‘liberal interpretation’ of the Bayanihan Law, which differs the SRA of healthcare workers in COVID and non-COVID wards and facilities.
“Iyan ngayon ang ating pinapakiusap sa ating mga legislature, iyong ating legislative bodies, kung maaari tayong magkaroon ng liberal interpretation of this law. Kailangan, maintindihan din ng ating mga healthcare workers na ang DOH, kahit gusto naming gawin iyan, we are tied because of the provisions in the law,” Vergeire said.
Vergeire added that some DOH regional offices were flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA) for distributing SRAs to unqualified healthcare workers.
“But we were at that intent, iyong regional office namin na nagbigay noon, ang sinasabi, they do not want to differentiate between those healthcare workers working in COVID and non-COVID, but it was flagged by COA kasi nga po iyong provision ng batas,” Vergeire said. – Report from Karen Villanda / CF -rir
