The majority of the member hospitals of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PHAPi) did not receive yet the One Covid-19 Allowance (OCA) for their healthcare workers and support staff.

This was revealed by PHAPi president, Dr. Jose Rene de Grano, during a “Laging Handa” briefing on Thursday, June 16.

He noted that only some of their member hospitals were able to receive the OCA from the DOH.

“Actually, ‘yun ang kinakalungkot din ng ating healthcare workers. Lagi pong sinasabi ng DOH ‘okay na na-release na namin’;sabi ng DBM (Department of Budget and Management) ‘released na ‘yung P7.9 billion’, pero nasaan na po iyan (Actually, that’s what saddens our healthcare workers. The DOH always says ‘it’s already okay, we’ve released it’; the DBM says ‘the P7.9 billion is already releases’, but where is it)?” he said.

“Majority po ng aming private hospitals ay hanggang ngayon ay hindi pa rin nakaka-receive nitong OCA ‘yung One Covid-19 Allowance (The majority of our hospitals did not receive their OCA until now).”

De Grano said their member hospitals , specifically their Human Resources personnel, are in constant communication with the DOH, saying that they were only told to wait.

“Ang sinasabi lang po sa amin ay maghintay, maghintay lang po. ‘Yun naman po ang ginagawa namin. Kasi sabi nila, may kakulangan din daw ang iba na documentary requirements, pero ang alam ko po ay na-submit na nila lahat (We were told to wait, just wait. That’s what we’re doing. Because they told us that some lack in documentary requirements, but to my knowledge, they have already submitted all),” the PHAPi president said.

Recently, the health department said it has already distributed over P86.5 million worth of benefits to healthcare workers under the OCA since January.

A total of P86,507,118 were released to 54 health facilities since the start of the year while P403,492,881 has been allocated to 266 health facilities, the DOH said in a statement.

But, the DOH said “it is pending and for issuance of check due to lack of submitted documents, especially the signed Memorandum of Agreement and liquidation report from the previously transferred funds to the health facility.”

In February, the DBM announced that it has released P7.92 billion to the DOH for the OCA of over half a million eligible public and private healthcare workers and support staff.