DOH, LGUs urged to provide allowance to volunteer vaccinators

Anakalusugan party-list Representative Mike Defensor on Thursday urged the Department of Health (DOH) as well as local government units (LGUs) to provide volunteer vaccinators an allowance of at least P1,000 a day.

According to Defensor, most volunteer nurses are unemployed or waiting to be deployed abroad while most doctor-volunteers are new practitioners who are still struggling with finances and building their career.

“It’s not enough compensation, but it could cover the volunteer’s transportation, snacks and lunch, and perhaps leave him with change good for two to three kilos of well-milled rice,” Defensor said.

“Vaccination duty will be a source of income for those who are jobless or waiting for deployment, and an additional earning for young doctors, if they are given an allowance,” he added.

The lawmaker said the amount of P1,000 a day would approximate the hiring salary of a government nurse, which is about P33,000 a month.

Defensor further stressed that the grant of an allowance would entice many nurses, doctors and other health professionals to volunteer for vaccination duty.

“We need more volunteers to ramp up the rollout of vaccines, which has been slowed down by admissions of lapses or breaches of vaccination protocols, which could be attributed partly to the fact that many of our vaccinators are overworked,” he said.

Defensor said vaccinators who are DOH and LGU personnel and volunteer nurses, doctors and other health professionals should be on duty for not more than eight hours per day.

“Most volunteers have other work to do because they practice their profession. They should be allowed enough rest,” the lawmaker said. —Anna Felicia Bajo/KBK, GMA News