Health workers protest over unreleased benefits

Health workers from various hospitals on Wednesday staged protest action in front of the Department of Health (DOH) office in Manila over unreleased benefits due to medical frontliners amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the protesters were carrying placards calling for the ouster of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and President Rodrigo Duterte.

Photo by Danny Pata

Wearing personal protective equipment, the health workers were demanding the release of their benefits including the special risk allowance (SRA), active hazard duty pay, and allowances for meals, accommodation, and transportation.

A report on Super Radyo dzBB said hospital operations were not affected since participants in the rally were off-duty medical workers.

The health workers were joined by members of militant groups, according to Manny Vargas' report on Super Radyo dzBB.

Photo by Danny Pata

Photo by Danny Pata

On Tuesday, the Department of Health (DOH) said it has disbursed over P237 million of the additional P311 million funds released for the COVID-19 SRA of an additional 20,000 health workers.

The P311 million was downloaded to DOH regional offices on August 27, according to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.

The protests pushed through despite Duterte's August 21 order to the DOH and the Department of Budget and Management to pay the already delayed allowances to frontliners within 10 days.

Under the guidelines, public and private health workers directly catering to COVID-19 patients are entitled to an SRA not exceeding P5,000 a month from December 20, 2020 to June 30, 2021.

The SRA will be on a prorated basis, depending on the number of days that the healthcare workers were on duty in a month. —KBK, GMA News