The Department of Health (DOH) is pushing for an amendment to the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers to cover health workers in private hospitals nationwide.
DOH officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the salient features of the proposed changes include provisions of hazard pay, education assistance, and additional compensation.
“Because if there are policies that are implemented, usually only public health workers get it based on our laws. But if we amend this to include both public and private, the private sector will also receive the same amount,” Vergeire said at a media briefing.
She said Vergeire said they are also proposing the standardization of salaries for public and private health workers in the national and local health sectors.
“So there will be no difference between the salaries of the public and private and the national and local if this is passed,” she said.
“Whatever a healthcare worker from the public sector will receive, this should be matched by the private sector according to the bill that we are pushing to be approved at Congress and the Senate,” Vergeire said.
At the same time, Vergeire also said the DOH favors the continued implementation of the work-from-home (WFH) arrangement, adding that studies have shown this to be beneficial.
“Studies have shown that WFH arrangement has benefits. There are benefits not only for businesses or employers but also individually,” Vergeire told reporters.
She also said the research indicated the WFH arrangement has helped individuals to have a balanced mental and physical health and also to have more drive to work.
Vergeire said the arrangement will help keep workers safe not only from COVID-19 but from other diseases as well.
“So if they can work from home and they can deliver the same output as they do when they are physically present in the workplace, then the DOH is all for this,” she said.