A lawmaker vowed to allocate budget enough to compensate volunteer health workers at par with the regular salary of their newly-hired counterparts in the government during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This comes after the Department of Health (DOH) apologized for offering P500 daily pay to doctors and nurses who will volunteer to join the fight against the pandemic which has received backlash from various sectors.
According to Dr. Geneve Reyes, secretary-general of Health Action for Human Rights, volunteer physicians should be compensated at least Php 50,000 equivalent to salary grade of newly-hired doctors in the government while nurses should be paid Php 22,000.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News, Reyes added that government must shoulder the 14-day quarantine after tour of duty.
ACT-CIS partylist Rep. Eric Yap said he is in talks with fellow lawmakers on how to source funds for the recommended compensation of volunteer doctors which is estimated at Php 40 billion.
Yap said that the congress is willing to provide fund stressing that the health workers are risking their lives to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“Sa totoo lang ngayon, parang giyera to eh. Pagka naging volunteer ka, hindi pwedeng sabihin na volunteer ka lang, extra lang yung trabaho mo,” he said.
The lawmaker added that it can suggest to the executive branch to sourced out budget from the Php275 billion fund alloted for the needs of volunteer health workers.
He added that a proposed Php1.6 billion supplemental budget would be pushed.
“Yung buhay po nila, tinataya nila para sa atin. So, nararapat lang po na bigyan sila ng bayad para sa mga doctors and nurses talaga,” Yap pointed out.
As of March 28, a total of 593 doctors and nurses have answered the DOH’s call and volunteered to be assigned in 3 government hospitals designated for COVID-19 patients, according to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
