DOH looking at additional incentives for healthcare workers —Vergeire

Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on Thursday said the department is discussing giving more incentives to healthcare workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Interviewed on Unang Hirit, Vergeire said that the DOH Executive Committee (Execom) met on Wednesday to discuss the concerns of the frontline workers.

“Nagkaroon na kami ng pag-uusap sa aming DOH Execom kung paano pa to better respond sa mga hinihiling ng ating mga healthcare workers and provide them with more incentives,” she said.

According to Vergeire, the DOH are considering the grievances of healthcare workers.

Recently, doctors said that the situation of the frontline workers fighting the spread of COVID-19 has become worse.

“‘Yung mga sinasabi sa news na numbers, technically ‘yung iba do’n totoo pero you can’t handpick the data and make it appear na okay tayo,” Dr. John Besa of the Philippine General Hospital said.

“I am telling everyone na in the front lines, hindi talaga okay. Sobrang mas malala tayo kumpara noong una,” he added.

Some hospitals also reported rising number of healthcare workers with COVID-19 in their facilities.

Nurses’ group Filipino Nurses United (FNU) earlier said that there have been almost no changes made to protect health workers against COVID-19 in the workplace since the pandemic started. —KBK, GMA News