Senate Finance Committee chair Senator Sonny Angara on Tuesday assured that health care workers are now entitled to receive benefits while the state of national emergency due to COVID-19 is in effect.
Angara, sponsor and co-author of Senate Bill No. 2421 or the act granting COVID-19 benefits and allowances to public and private health workers during a state of public health emergency is in place, made the assurance after the measure was approved on third and final reading by the Senate on January 31.
It was Angara and Senator Richard Gordon who filed and pushed for the bill in response to the request by the Department of Health (DOH) for the passage of a law that will ensure the continuous grant of the benefits provided to HCWs under the now defunct Bayanihan laws.
The senator said there should no longer be any impediment in the delivery of the much deserved benefits to HCWs.
“While it was clear to the proponents of the Bayanihan laws in Congress that the grant of benefits to our health workers should continue for as long as the state of national emergency declared by the President is in place, the expiry of those laws became a cause of delay for the delivery of those benefits and this is what SB 2421 aims to address,” Angara said.
Once enacted into law, the benefits for HCWs would be provided even beyond 2022 or for as long as the state of national public health emergency is in effect.
Under the bill, all public and private health workers, regardless of employment status, will be granted a singular monthly COVID-19 Risk Allowance based on the following categories: P3,000 for those deployed in “low risk” areas; P6,000 for “medium risk” areas; and P9,000 for “high risk” areas. HCWs would also be able to receive the full amount if they are able to physically report to work for at least 96 hours in a month.
Aside from monthly allowances, the measure also provides for the compensation of HCWs who contracted COVID-19 while in the line of duty. The amount of benefits are as follows: P15,000 for mild or moderate cases of sickness; P100,000 for severe or critical cases; and P1-million in case of death.
The same benefits would also be granted to non-medical workers and outsourced personnel hired under institution or individual contract of services or job order basis who are assigned in health facilities and are similarly exposed to COVID-19.
Also under the bill, regular COVID-19 testing for the HCWs will also be provided and whenever any of them are confined. They also stand to enjoy full PhilHealth coverage to cover for the cost of hospitalization.
Under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2022, a total of P51-billion was provided for the provision of COVID-19 risk allowance and compensation of HCWs.
Angara said the provisions under the bill shall have a retroactive application from July 1, 2021 and shall remain in full force and effect under the state of national public health emergency.
“With the passage of this measure and the funding already provided under the 2022 GAA, we expect the DOH to facilitate the provision of all the benefits due to our health workers without delay,” Angara said.