DOH reiterates continuous disbursement of benefits, allowances of healthcare workers

The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday reiterated that it is continuously disbursing the benefits and allowances of healthcare workers in the public and private sector.

The DOH issued the remark after several healthcare workers held a rally in front of the Health department’s headquarters, calling for the release of their benefits and allowances.

“The recent releases of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) were already distributed to the Centers for Health Development and based on our reports, the public sector has already disbursed around 90% of the allowances to hospitals and facilities, while around 40% in the private health facilities,” the DOH said in a statement.

“To avoid delays in the release of Health Emergency Allowances, public and private hospitals and facilities need to coordinate closely with our regional offices and comply with the complete list of requirements guided by government auditing rules and processes prescribed by the Commission on Audit (COA),” it added.

The Health Department also reminded health facilities to ensure submission of liquidation reports to prevent delays in the release of funds.

It also encouraged health facilities to coordinate with their respective Centers for Health Development in submitting the required documents to ensure the timely release of health emergency allowance to eligible healthcare workers and non-healthcare workers.

The DOH earlier said it is aiming to distribute P1.04 billion in special risk allowances to eligible public and private healthcare workers involved in COVID-19 health care response.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the approved P1.04 billion will cover unpaid COVID SRA claims of 55,211 healthcare workers from September 2020 to June 2021.

Meanwhile, the DBM said it has approved the issuance of a Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) amounting to P1.04 billion.

The DBM said qualified health workers refer to medical, allied medical, and other personnel assigned in hospitals and health care facilities, and who are directly catering to or are in contact with COVID-19 patients, persons under investigation (PUIs), or persons under monitoring (PUMs).—Richa Noriega/AOL, GMA Integrated News