DOH appeals to health workers not to continue protest actions

The Department of Health has appealed to the healthcare workers not to push through with their plan of staging protest actions on Sept. 1.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that such a plan will affect the operations of the different hospitals.
“Kami ay nakikiusap sa ating mga healthcare workers because ito ay makakaapekto nang maigi sa ating operation sa ating hospitals (We are appealing to our healthcare workers because it will cause a (negative) impact on our operation in our hospitals),” said Vergeire on Saturday, Aug. 28.
It was reported that health worker groups such as Filipino Nurses United (FNU) and the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) will conduct mass actions on Sept. 1 as they have yet to receive their benefits from the government.
The DOH assured that they are addressing the demands of health workers.
“Ginagawa ng DOH ang lahat ng makakaya para maibigay po natin ang mga kahilingan at benepisyo ng ating mga healthcare workers (The DOH is doing its best to meet the demands of our healthcare workers),” said Vergeire.
The DOH official said that they are coordinating with the legislators to also provide special risk allowance to healthcare workers who are not directly attending to COVID-19 patients.
“So, ngayon nakikipag trabaho tayo sa ating mga legislative bodies para magkaroon ng amenda itong batas para maisama na po lahat ng healthcare workers (So, now we are working with our legislative bodies to amend this law so that all healthcare workers can be included),” she said.
“Kailangan din maintindihan ng ating mga healthcare workers---- ang DOH po, kahit gusto namin gawin yan (Our healthcare workers also need to understand ---- the DOH, even if we want to do that), we are tied because of the provisions in the law,” she added.
Under Republic Act No. 11494 or the “Bayanihan to Recover As One Act,” the special risk allowance is only given to "all public and private health workers directly catering or in contact with COVID-19 patients."