DOH to pay P500 daily to volunteer doctors, nurses amid COVID-19 emergency

Medical professionals who would volunteer to be frontliners at referral hospitals for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) would be compensated with P500 daily, according to the Department of Health (DOH).

Based on the website shared by the administrators of the Viber community DOH PH COVID-19, the volunteer doctors, nurses, and other medical workers would be deployed to the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City, Philippine General Hospital in Manila, or Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital in Caloocan.

Each volunteer will have to render eight hours of daily work for 14 consecutive days. A mandatory on-site quarantine that would last for two weeks will follow after.

The compensation of P500 daily also covers the quarantine period.

Non-medical professionals who would volunteer to help would likewise receive the same amount.

"Payment will be made through Paymaya, so please set up an account if you don't have one," the information on the website read.

The DOH assured that personal protective equipment will be provided to volunteers as they would have direct contact with infected patients.

Accommodation and food will also be provided, according to the DOH.

They would likewise be entitled to a cash compensation of P100,000 should they contract severe COVID-19 infection on duty, and P1 million death benefit should they succumb to the disease.

All volunteers would have to undergo orientation and training and shall sign a contract and non-disclosure agreement.

According to the Philippine Medical Association, there are about 120,000 doctors in the country. —Dona Magsino/LDF, GMA News