On Healthcare Workers’ Day, Senator Risa Hontiveros pressed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to fully explain the year-long delay of hazard pay for healthcare workers and the continuously deteriorating work environment more than a year into the pandemic.
The senator backed health workers union groups, saying that more than “words of gratitude,” the government should once and for all commit to improving the work conditions of health workers. She said this should come in the form of periodic Covid-19 testing, immune boosters, free PPEs, and continuous hiring of health workers.
“In-extend na ang P13.5 billion sa ilalim ng Bayanihan 2 para matugunan ang mga pangangailangan ng mga health workers, pero hanggang ngayon, hindi pa rin naipapaliwanag ng Health Secretary kung bakit walang maayos na roll-out sa mga ospital,” she said.
“All year long, health workers have made desperate calls for better pay and genuine support. The Health Secretary should stop giving them the cold shoulder, and should explain why he fails to do his job when health workers wholeheartedly do theirs with their lives on the line,” she added.
Hontiveros said that the overwhelmed hospitals are “hell on earth” for health workers who continue to remain burnt out by the lack of action of the Department of Health (DOH) to provide substantial aid to them.
“Umabot tayo sa puntos na may mga ulat na KKB o kanya-kanyang bayad ang ibang health workers para sa ginagamit nilang personal protective equipment (PPEs). Parang wala tayong pake kung mabuhay sila o hindi,” she said.
“Health workers deserve safe and decent working conditions. Instead of Sec. Duque insisting that all the needs are being met, perhaps he should listen to what the health workers in the hospitals have to say. In the middle of a health crisis, an out of touch Health Secretary is the last thing we need,” she said.
Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)
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