Health workers are once again appealing to the government to raise their salary as this is one of the ways to address the migration of the country's medical frontliners.
Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) President Robert Mendoza said that the Philippines has long been suffering severe understaffing in hospitals even before the pandemic. Some of the factors influencing the migration of health workers include low salary, contractualization, as well as the working environment, particularly the long working hours.
Department of Health (DOH) Officer-in-Charge and Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that there is a shortage of physicians and nurses in the country. The Philippines is in need of at least 178,000 nurses and 114,000 physicians, said Vergeire during the House Committee on Appropriations' oversight hearing on Thursday, May 4.
“Sa Southeast Asia, tayo ang pinakamababang magpasahod ng mga healthcare workers. Open na lahat ng ating ibang bansa para tumanggap ng mga health workers, lalong-lalo na yung mga nurses, kaya karamihan gina-grab na rin nila yung opportunity na umalis ng bansa para magkaroon ng greener pasture at mabuhay ng maayos yung kanilang mga pamilya (In Southeast Asia, we are the lowest-paying country for healthcare workers. Other countries are opening up and are hiring health workers, especially nurses. Most of them grab this opportunity to leave the country in order to have a greener pasture and to provide their family a better life),” Mendoza said during a television interview on Friday, May 5.
Mendoza appealed to the government to raise the entry salary for Salary Grade 1 public health workers to P33,000. Meanwhile, the Health Workers United for Wage Fight (HWUWF) group also called on the government to increase the minimum pay of private health workers to P1,100 per day.
In a statement, the AHW and HWUWF said that “Salary Grade 1 health worker in public hospitals only earns P13,000 per month while private hospital health worker only receives P570 per day as their minimum pay.”
“Paano aabot ang P13,000 na sahod ng isang SG1 Health Worker o P570 per day na minimum pay with the increasing cost of daily basic needs and expenses like food, house rent, transportation and utilities? Needs for health, education and recreation are not considered anymore," said HWUWF member and AHW President of Philippine Heart Center Employees Association Salome Ejes in a statement.
"Worst, there could be no more savings as earnings are not enough. The skyrocketing cost of living, worsening economic crisis, and rising of inflation rate almost every month is terrible,” added Ejes.
Meanwhile, Mendoza also expressed his concern over the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country, saying that in the event a surge happens again, this will hit health workers harder as they are already “demoralized, overworked, and underpaid.” He also added that they are receiving reports that some health workers are not reporting for duty.
Mendoza urged the Marcos administration to heed their long-standing appeal regarding their salaries and improvement in their working conditions.
“Nung SONA [State of the Nation Address] sinabi na uunahin, bibigyan prioridad yung mga benepisyo ng mga healthcare workers pero hanggang sa kasalukuyan, wala pa rin pagbabago. Ganun pa rin (During the SONA, we were assured that the benefits of healthcare workers would be prioritized. But until now, nothing has changed. It is still the same),” he said.
“Panawagan natin sana, kung sa panahon ni President Duterte ay dinoble ang sahod ng ating mga kapulisan, sana ngayon palang magkaroon ng order, maglabas na dapat doblehin din ang sahod ng ating mga health workers para manatili sa ating bansa (We are appealing, if the salary of our police workforce was doubled during the time of President Duterte, we hope that they will also issue the same order so that our health workers will stay in our country),” he added.