DOH to identify bottlenecks in release of health workers’ Bayanihan 2 benefits

The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said it would look into bottlenecks blocking the release of health workers’ benefits provided under the Bayanihan 2 law after a nurses group said many still have not received their special risk allowance (SRA).

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH had already released funds for health workers’ benefits to regional offices and hospitals. 

“We just need to clarify and also get that information kung ano po ‘yung nagiging bottleneck kung ba’t hindi naibibigay pa ang mga benepisyong kailangan ng ating mga healthcare workers,” she said in a briefing.

(We just need to clarify and also get that information on what’s causing the bottleneck on the release of the benefits needed by our healthcare workers.)

In a statement on Sunday, Filipino Nurses United (FNU) said it was “infuriating” that many health workers still have not received their benefits under Bayanihan 2, which expired last June 30.

Citing its own survey involving 216 respondents, the group said 65% of nurses still have not received their SRA for September 15 to December 19, 2020 and another 88% have not gotten their SRA for December 20, 2021 to June 30 this year.

“The promised COVID-19 benefits under Bayanihan 2 have not reached many deserving health personnel who have sacrificed and [taken] the risks in serving our people to fight this pandemic,” FNU said.

Hiring of health workers

The nurses group also said many hospitals and healthcare facilities remain understaffed even after President Rodrigo Duterte vowed in his 2020 State of the Nation Address that the government would hire more than 20,000 health workers this year.

FNU said the 9,088 health workers hired through the DOH emergency hiring program is “way below” Duterte’s promise and the FNU’s long-standing recommendation to hire 48,000 health personnel for all barangays and COVID-19 referral centers.

The group said some nurses in local government hospitals handle as many as 12 COVID patients, including critical cases requiring intubation, despite the standard nurse to patient ratio being 1:1 for intensive care units.

Vergeire clarified that the DOH’s emergency hiring of health workers is “not just for the hospitals but also for the other facilities that we use for this response” such as vaccination sites, temporary treatment and monitoring facilities, and contact tracing.

“We have rationally distributed these healthcare workers that we have hired para ‘yung response po natin mas maging malakas (so that our response will be enhanced),” she said. — RSJ, GMA News