Members of AHW in a protest rally demading pay increase. (AHW image) HEALTH workers in public hospitals have appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to raise their P10,000 salary saying the amount is not enough for them to live decently.

Health workers are also suffering from the daily grind of poverty as prices of basic commodities have increased due to the implementation of the tax reform law, said Eleazar Sobinsky, Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) public relations officer, in a press briefing in Quezon City on Tuesday.

Sobinsky said health workers should be treated by the government as partners for promoting the health of Filipinos and they deserve to be given salary increase like soldiers and police officers, whose pay were raised by Duterte.

“Pangulong Duterte sana maintindihan mo na kami na mga manggagawa ng kalusugan ay mga sundalo rin na kung saan ang kalaban namin ay ang mga sakit na pumapatay sa mga Pilipino at mga kababayan natin sa Pilipinas. Sana lang mapag-isip-isip mo na kami rin ay dapat mong mapagtuunan ng pansin na itaas ang sahod sapagkat ang mga sundalo pinoprotektahan mo, na poprotekta naman sa iyo, kami naman gagamutin naman namin sila kapag may karamdaman. Sana ang gobyerno natin ay maging fair (President Duterte, we hope you will understand that we, the healthworkers are also like soldiers who fight against illnesses that kill our countrymen. We hope you will also think that we also need to be heard just like the soldiers who protect you, we also treat them when they are sick. We hope that this government will be fair),” Sobinsky said.

AHW vice president Edgardo Damicog said the government should begin to see the truth about the health system in the country that treats the delivery of healthcare as a form of business.

“Considering that health workers played a vital role for the healthcare system, we deserve the recognition of the state through just compensation, benefits and work safety and security,” Damicog said.

The group is demanding a P16,000 pay increase, noting that the basic pay for entry positions, like nurses in public hospitals, is at around P30,000.