The Department of Budget and Management has authorized the creation of 26,035 contractual positions for health workers to support the implementation of the Human Resource for Health Deployment Program of the Department of Health.
Contractual positions, the DBM said, enjoy employer-employee relationship and are covered by civil service rules and regulations.
In the last 18 years, the Health department had been engaging medical and allied-medical workers on a contract of service basis and without employer-employee relationship.
In addition, these health workers were previously only receiving basic salaries without other benefits in the past years.
The DOH pursued the creation of the contractual positions such that, in addition to their salaries, the health workers will now receive benefits currently being received by a regular government personnel, such as the Personnel Economic Relief Allowance, midyear bonus, year-end Bonus, and cash gift, among others.
The health workers to be hired by the DOH on a contractual basis are composed of medical officers, dentists, medical technologists, nurses, nutritionists, pharmacists, physical therapists, and midwives.
They will be deployed to 1,634 cities and municipalities nationwide, especially in far-flung, geographically-isolated, disadvantaged, and remote areas with inadequate personnel to enhance the access to and delivery of health care services to the public.
The goal of the HRHDP is to assign at least one dedicated health worker per barangay to ensure availability of health services eight hours a day, seven days a week.
The program also augments the manpower complement of Rural Health Units of different local government units to ensure the provision of healthcare services 24/7, especially emergency and birthing home services.