More health workers and contact tracers will be recruited to enhance the country's efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles announced Wednesday.
Nograles said the government intends to hire 2,855 more health workers to boost the workforce to be deployed in various health facilities.
So far, he said around 6,510 health workers have been hired out of the 9,365 positions targeted for deployment in 339 hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The figure represents 69.51 percent of the emergency hiring of health personnel.
"Tayo po sa pamahalaan ay actively nagre-recruit pa po ng health workers. May budget tayo para diyan (The government is actively recruiting health workers. We have a budget for that). The DOH (Department of Health) is actively recruiting nurses and health workers,” Nograles said during an online "Kapihan sa Manila Bay" forum Wednesday.
Also, Nograles discussed the government's hiring program for contact tracers to help fight the spread of the coronavirus disease.
He said the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has hired 73,306 people to conduct tracing of close contacts of coronavirus patients, and is expected to recruit more. Around 207,204 close contacts of confirmed cases has so far been traced and assessed, he added.
"Ibig sabihin ongoing ang contact tracing efforts natin and mayroon recruitment of contact tracers nationwide lalo na pag pumasa ang Bayanihan 2 law mas lalong aarangkada ang contact tracing natin (It means our contract tracing efforts are ongoing and there is a recruitment of contact tracers nationwide. Once the Bayanihan 2 law is passed, our contract tracing will further be enhanced)," he said.
The government earlier announced plans to hire 10,000 more health workers and enlist the medical reservists to beef up the workforce in battling the pandemic.
The proposal came after the country's medical professionals called for the return of Metro Manila under strict lockdown to curb the escalating cases of infections. The health frontliners pleaded for a two-week timeout to refine the containment strategies and address other problems such as shortage of workforce and poor contact tracing and quarantine efforts.
President Duterte agreed to bring back Metro Manila and four nearby provinces under modified enhanced community quarantine upon the appeal of the health workers.
According to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, the return of the MECQ status was a "compromise" because the country cannot afford a complete lockdown. He admitted that this was a "complex and controversial" decision to balance public health and livelihood.
"I think it’s a compromise. It is again reflecting the delicate balance between health and economy," he said during a televised press briefing Tuesday.
Roque has also raised concerns about the weakening of the local economy after the restrictive lockdown implemented back in March forced many shops to close, displace workers, and weaken consumption. He said the country's gross domestic product is expected to register a steep decline in the second quarter of the year.