Health workers' hazard pay for 2021 still unreleased —DOH exec

Hazard pay and special risk allowance for health frontline workers from January to June this year are still being processed by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said Sunday.

"'Yung hazard pay saka special risk allowance... itong January hanggang June 2021 ito hinihingi namin sa DBM... 'Di pa nare-release pero alam ko nagagawa na ito," he said over "Dobol B TV."

(We are still asking the DBM to release the hazard pay and special risk allowance for January to June 2021. It is still being processed.)

More than a year into the pandemic, health workers at the forefront in the battle against COVID-19, are lamenting their low and delayed pay. They have not received their hazard pay beginning January this year.

Moreover, Vega said health workers are resigning from their jobs, which he fears can cause understaffing in hospitals.

To address the problem, Vega said they have opened 10,300 health worker positions all over the country to augment operations in health facilities.

Last week, the Department of Health (DOH) assured the public that the government had enough funds to augment the health workforce amid a new surge in COVID-19 cases.

Earlier, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH had given hospitals enough funds to hire health workers directly. —LBG, GMA News