
ILOILO CITY -- The Department of Health (DOH) has been urged to probe the alleged delay of salaries and Covid-19 benefits of health workers at the Western Visayas Sanitarium and General Hospital (WVSGH), a DOH-run hospital in Santa Barbara town, Iloilo province.
“These issues were not resolved even after more than six months of lobbying for resolution,” said Iloilo Rep. Michael Gorriceta in a Jan. 6 letter addressed to DOH-6 Director Adriano Suba-an.
As the author of the law that upgraded the WVSGH into a general hospital, Gorriceta reiterated that DOH must find solutions to the various concerns as he has already called their attention as early as June 2022.
“If these concerns continue without intervention, the health care delivery system and the hospital’s services would be greatly compromised for the people relying on its services,” Gorriceta warned.
“If these persist, we cannot fully achieve the patient services and offer the advanced health are goal that we are eyeing to reach,” added Gorriceta.
Gorriceta has informed DOH officer-in-charge Undersecretary Secretary Rosario Vergeire about the matter.
During the holidays, DOH Undersecretary Camilo Cascolan discussed the issue with the WVSGH management.
Aside from delayed salaries and benefits, the issue over the non-renewal of contracts of several health workers was also raised.