“It is an injustice not to care and not to act.“
With the confirmed community transmission of the dreaded COVID-19 Delta variant, many hospitals get filled to the brim as cases hit record high. It has been roughly a year and a half. Hospitals strive to maintain their operations amid the mounting unpaid obligations of PhilHealth, while health care workers all over the country continue to attend and cater to the increasing number of patients needing various types of care.
Our health care system remains to be our ultimate defense. Hence, it is only proper that we equip it with what it needs. It is heartbreaking that our healthcare system, particularly our health care workers who are indispensable in this fight, are not receiving their appropriate salaries and benefits.
I have always been supportive of the welfare of our health care workers. At the start of this pandemic, the Quezon provincial government provided accommodation for our nurses and doctors serving in the province. With the arrival of vaccines, we made sure that our health care workers would be fully vaccinated. There has also been a steady supply of personal protective equipment in our COVID-19 facilities. The provincial government of Quezon has also been giving ayuda or food supplies to health care workers. Together with local government units of Quezon, we are constantly reminding the public to follow health protocol and get vaccinated to prevent further spread of the disease.
While these actions contribute in a way, there are still many things left to do. Recently, the Department of Budget and Management finally released the ruling that allowed an increase in the salaries of nurses. Meanwhile, health care workers in various parts of the country have been calling for the release of their allowances from the national government. While policies have earlier been put in place, it pains me to hear that our health care workers still have not been adequately compensated for their hard work and sacrifice.
Hence, let me call on the national government, particularly the Department of Health, to expedite the release and issuance of the well-deserved allowances and benefits to our health care workers. I strongly urge the DOH to resolve the documentary requirements immediately and facilitate proper distribution of these allowances without red tape. I also urge the DOH to consider expanding the coverage and include in the program health care workers and other hospital personnel assigned in non-COVID-19 areas who have been reporting to work physically. We cannot disregard the similar risks they face at work.
As governor, I would like to do and give more for our medical frontliners. However, it seems that local budgetary constraints and disagreements remain to be a hindrance in providing even the proper and lawful compensation to our health care workers, especially our nurses. More than a year battling this pandemic, with so many deaths recorded especially among the health sector, it is disappointing and disheartening that political interests of some local officials continue to take precedence in their decision-making over compassion towards the plight of our health care workers. There is no better time than now to set aside political differences and see the situation through a caring lens. Humanity must prevail.
We do what we can to help. I fervently hope that others follow suit. It is an injustice not to care and not to act.