DOH in talks with DBM for more funds for health workers’ COVID-19 allowance

The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said it is still negotiating with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for additional funds for healthcare workers' COVID-19 response allowance.

At a press briefing, DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that they received a letter from the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) asking for their One COVID Allowance (OCA) to be released.

“Unang una po, for the longest time since these benefits were mandated to be provided, nakapagbigay naman tayo sa PGH. Ang nangyari ngayon yung MOOE [Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses] natin sa national government through DOH ay naubos na at wala na tayong ma-issue pa,” Vergeire said.

(For the longest time since these benefits were mandated to be provided, we have been able to provide them to the PGH. What happened is that our MOOE from the national government through DOH has been used up and we have nothing more to issue.)

Vergeire said they have already requested that the DBM release the funds so that they can pay for other healthcare workers who have not received their COVID-19 allowance.

“So hanggang sa ngayon we are still trying to negotiate with DBM so at least makapag-release man lang kahit kaunti para makapagbigay tayo sa ating healthcare workers, so we be will informing the public,” she said.

(So until now we are still trying to negotiate with DBM to at least release funds so that we can give to our healthcare workers and we will be informing the public.)

“We would like to inform the PGH and other hospitals wala po tayong pinipiling ospital pag mayroon tayong budget sa DOH. Kung ano po yung mabibigyan natin, atin pong nire-release yan, nagkataon lang po ngayon we have long been requesting for this budget for DBM and up until now we had not been granted for the release of this funds, kaya wala pa rin po kaming maibigay sa inyo ngayon,” she added.

(We would like to inform the PGH and other hospitals that we are not choosing any hospital to give a certain budget. When we have a budget from the DOH, we release it to them. It just happened that now we have long been requesting for this budget for the DBM and up until now we had not been granted for the release of this funds so we still can’t currently release anything.)

GMA News Online sought comment from the DBM but it has yet to reply as of this posting.

Last February, the DBM said it had released P7.92 billion for the allowance of healthcare workers and other personnel involved in the COVID-19 response.

In 2021, a number of healthcare workers reported that they have yet to receive allowances for the services rendered amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte earlier signed into law a measure mandating continuous benefits to all healthcare workers in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic and other future public health emergencies. — BM, GMA News