MANILA – Public health workers are not receiving all the compensation they are entitled to under the law, Sen. Leila de Lima claimed.
De Lima sought to convene the Congressional Commission on Health pursuant to Republic Act 7305, or the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers.
There is an urgent need for HealthCom to convene and revisit the law and the revised implementing rules and regulations to determine what provisions need to be amended to plug the loopholes and bridge the statutory gaps,” she said in Senate Resolution 716.
Under the law, public health workers are entitled to subsistence allowance, laundry allowance, longevity pay, hazard pay, night shift differential, free living/quarters allowance, remote assignment allowance for doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives, and higher salary grade upon retirement, among others.
But only subsistence allowance and laundry allowance are given to these workers, de Lima said, citing a 2011 report by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies.<
Fifteen years since its enactment, the monitoring of the implementation of the law has been generally weak and our [public health workers] remain undervalued,” she said.
Inconsistencies and discrepancies in the payment of benefits prescribed in the law should be reviewed to avoid propagating discontent among the concerned workers, she pointed out.
Because of the current poor working conditions in the government health sector,” de Lima said, public health workers, “especially nurses, are motivated to seek employment overseas.” “As to doctors, less are pursuing the profession,” she added.
A total of 19,000 nurses leave the Philippines every year, according to government data.
In addition, with a doctor-population ratio of 1:33,000, the Philippines does not meet the 1:1,000 ratio recommended by the World Health Organization, data showed.
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