Pacquiao urges gov’t to crack down on underpaying private hospitals

Senator Manny Pacquiao on Thursday called on the administration to crack down on private health institutions that refuse to pay their healthcare workers properly.

In a statement, the presidential aspirant claimed that many private hospitals either face a lack of manpower, or have a workforce composed by inexperienced personnel, due to bad management and unfair labor practices.

Pacquiao urged the Department of Health, Department of Labor and Employment, and the Department of Justice to coordinate and assess the situation of the medical personnel in the private hospitals.

He said the management of private healthcare institutions that continuously refuse to properly compensate their workers should be prosecuted.

“Itong ating mga medical frontliners ang pinakamahalagang sektor sa gitna ng patuloy na problema natin dahil sa COVID-19. Kailangan natin silang pangalagaan upang hindi sila mawalan ng ganang pagsilbihan ang ating mga kababayan. We are losing a lot of good doctors, nurses and other medical professionals because they are not properly compensated,” Pacquiao said.

(Our medical frontliners are part of the most important sector amid the COVID-19 crisis. We need to take care of them so they won’t lose the motivation to serve our people. We are losing a lot of good doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals because they are not properly compensated.)

While making the call, Pacquiao also highlighted the need for the government to address the private hospitals’ complaints on the reimbursement of claims with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).

He noted that many private hospitals are already under a lot of financial distress because most of their patients depend on PhilHealth to cover their treatment expenses.

“Kahit maraming pasyente itong ating mga hospital, nalulugi pa rin sila dahil ang tagal namang magbayad sa kanila ang PhilHealth. Paano naman sila makakabayad ng maayos sa kanilang mga empleyado kung wala naman silang nakokolekta?” Pacquiao said.

(Even though our hospitals admit many patients, they face financial woes because of the delayed payments from PhilHealth. How could they pay their employees if they collect nothing?)

The presidential aspirant vowed to increase the minimum wage of health care professionals to at least P50,000 a month inclusive of taxes and on top of other compensation such as hazard pay and overtime pay.

“This pandemic has caused a massive demand for health care professionals and other countries are paying a premium just to get their services,” Pacquiao said.

“Their compensation should be competitive to international rates to encourage them to stay in the country and serve our people. This could even encourage Filipino health care workers who are already working abroad to return home and work here in the Philippines,” he added. — BM, GMA News