A group of health workers urged the government that the Department of Health’s budget for 2022 must be 10 percent of the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP), as they lamented how there were no funds for their special risk allowance (SRA) in the 2022 budget.
“We hope the government can prioritize the release of these benefits and increase the health budget for next year. We hope that next year, while we are still fighting the pandemic, we can increase the health budget to 10 percent of the GDP,” Alliance of Health Workers president Robert Mendoza said.
“The 2022 budget shows that health is government’s fourth highest priority, but 33 percent of the Health department’s budget is the P79.9 billion for PhilHealth. If you remove that, the Department of Health only has the seventh biggest budget,” he said.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier said there were no funds for the SRA in the 2022 budget since it was lodged under the proposed Bayanihan 3 bill.
The Bayanihan 3 bill has been approved by the House but remains pending in the Senate.
“We can really see that the government isn’t prioritizing the health and welfare of our health workers,” Mendoza said.
“They didn’t find a way to put this in the budget. We hope they will show that they care for health workers,” he said.
Mendoza also lamented that about 80 percent of health workers have yet to receive the benefits and allowances they are entitled to for this year.
“The DOH has said they have released millions in funds, but about 80 percent of our health workers have not received their allowances yet,” he said. “We hope DOH will release a list of hospitals that have received these allowances because we haven’t see any data.”
“We hope the Department of Health can show us a copy of those who have received their benefits. Because many of our health workers, especially those in local government units, have yet to receive their SRA, meals, accommodation and transportation allowances, and hazard duty pay,” Mendoza said.