GOCC healthcare workers call for release of 2025, 2026 medical allowances

Health workers from Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporation (GOCC) hospitals called on the government to release their 2025 annual medical allowances, and to release immediately their 2026 allowances, during a protest at the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) said that GOCC workers remain the only health worker group with unpaid medical allowances.

The health workers asked for the benefits to be disbursed in full cash allowance with no deductions rather than HMO schemes in order for the funds to be used for their specific needs, noting that the prolonged delay raises concerns regarding Executive Order 64, which grants P7,000 medical allowance to qualified government civilian personnel.

“We have earned this allowance through our continued service, especially amid difficult working conditions. It is our right to receive the full P7,000 in cash. Every peso counts for our families, especially with the rising cost of living.” said NKTI AHW President Jocelyn Guinto.

In addition to calling for their allowances, the GOCC AHW unions also called for a living wage as they noted they were only working on entry level salaries of P36,000 for health workers and P50,000 for nurses and health professionals.

They also said that the continued contractualization among their ranks and understaffing was a public health crisis.

The GOCC hospitals include the Lung Center of the Philippines, the National Kidney Transplant Institute, the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, and the Philippine Heart Center.

DOH responds

The Department of Health advised the healthcare workers to consult relevant legal offices to lodge their concerns regarding their medical allowances.

“The best recourse for the aggrieved is to appeal the denial by management of any asserted benefits to the Board of Trustees of the GOCC hospitals, which shall then have the discretion to weigh the merits and decide according to the evidence and law,” said DOH spokesperson Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo.

“We encourage those affected to pursue this legal remedy for immediate resolution,” he added.

The provision of the P7,000 medical allowances for healthcare workers had taken effect on January 2025, with guidelines released by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on December 2024.

The DBM said the medical allowance “shall be given to each qualified civilian government personnel as a subsidy to avail of health maintenance organization (HMO)-type benefits.”

While the EO also noted that officials and employees in GOCCs under RA No. 10149 and EO No. 150 were excluded, Guinto said that benefits under RA 7305 are “distinct and separate from the medical allowance provided under the Executive Order.”

“We would like to emphasize that EO No. 64 does not exclude GOCC hospital employees… The Magna Carta of Public Health Workers ensures access to medical services, while EO No. 64 grants a specific monetary allowance to support health-related needs benefits that are not mutually exclusive,” she said. — BM, GMA Integrated News