The Department of Health (DOH) has apologized for the PhP500 daily allowance of volunteer health workers.
According to DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the majority of the agency’s budget was used to purchase Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for the frontliners.
The DOH has ensured that the compensation for health care workers will be prioritized now that its supplemental budget has been released.
Senator Bong Go has suggested that even if health workers are considered as job orders or contract of service, they will receive hazard pay and risk allowance.
A volunteer licensed nurse can receive PhP 1,200 per day equivalent to the salary grade of Nurse 1, while volunteer doctors, can get a salary equivalent to the pay of an entry-level licensed doctor.
If a volunteer is a nursing graduate without any experience, the senator stated that the daily rate must not be lower than PhP 1,000.
There are now more than 500 individuals interested in coordinating with the government to control the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
They will be assigned in COVID referral hospitals such as the Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine General Hospital and Dr. Jose Rodriguez Hospital.
The DOH has guaranteed the government’s full support for health workers fighting COVID-19.
Report from Mark Fetalco
