DOH hit over delayed health workers’ benefits

MANILA, Philippines, June 4 ------ Senate President Vicente Sotto III and his colleagues minced no words as they took Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to task on Wednesday for the failure of the Department of Health (DOH) to distribute at least P32 million in compensation to the families of front-line health workers who died treating COVID-19 patients. “This is definitely unacceptable,” Sotto told reporters in an online press briefing.

The senators pointed out that the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, or Republic Act No. 11469, explicitly mandated the government to give P1 million each to the families of nurses and doctors who lost their lives attending to people afflicted with the severe respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. The law also requires the government to give P100,000 to health workers who would contract the coronavirus in the line of duty but survive.

On Tuesday, the senators were dismayed to learn that the DOH had not carried out the compensation provisions of the law because of the absence of implementation rules. “It’s really criminal, this neglect to pass this and to delay these types of benefits. We keep praising [medical front-liners] as our heroes and yet it’s mere lip service if we don’t give them [compensation],” Sen. Sonny Angara said. Sen. Richard Gordon, who had introduced the compensation provision, called the DOH failure “serious neglect.”

As of Monday, 2,669 health workers had contracted the coronavirus. Gordon said on Tuesday that 32 had died and two were severely ill. Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the absence of implementation rules should not be a hindrance to the payment of compensation to the health workers or their families. “It’s in the law. The lack or absence of [implementation rules] should not be an excuse not to comply with the law,” Lacson said.

Gordon agreed that the implementation rules were not needed as the law is clear. “Why should we distinguish? They have already died. A little investigation will tell us that you can pay them because they died [on] the front line. That’s a no-brainer,” he said. Earlier, the Senate passed a resolution demanding Duque quit his post due to lack of foresight, negligence and failure of leadership as chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, the temporary government body overseeing the Duterte administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.

On Wednesday, Sotto said Duque should not use the absence of implementation rules to justify his inaction on the payment of benefits to the ailing health workers and the families of those who had died. Sotto reminded Duque in a letter that the government had already set aside funds to compensate medical workers and that the law had been in effect since March 25. “The efforts and sacrifices made by our health-care [workers] need not be more emphasized. Their being so-called COVID-19 heroes and the accolades they received each day are enough reminders for them to get noticed, including you. But it seems that you pay no heed to these facts,” Sotto told Duque.

“It is very disconcerting to know that after more than two months [after] the law’s implementation, no health worker and his or her family has received their supposed remuneration for sacrificing their own lives for our own,” he added. Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, chair of the Senate health committee, echoed the sentiments of his colleagues as he urged the government to “remedy this immediately and release the rightful compensation for our health workers.”

“Our health workers are doing one of the most difficult and dangerous jobs against an unseen enemy—a sickness that until now has no cure,” Go said in a Viber message to the Inquirer. “They have paid the ultimate price — their lives — so that the rest of their countrymen and women will continue to live,” he said. “Let me say this: Seriously neglecting to do your job for the people who paid with their own lives is a dishonor to their memory and sacrifices for our country,” he added.

Source: inquirer.net