The Department of Health has disbursed P19.65 billion for the benefits of healthcare workers during the first six months of the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Malacañang said on Tuesday.

The amount includes active hazard pay for medical workers from July to December this year.

According to the Office of the Press Secretary, the DoH disbursed the One Covid Allowance (Health Emergency Allowance) to 1,624,045 healthcare workers and a special risk allowance to 73,711 workers.

However, not all workers in hospitals get to receive hazard pay and other benefits despite working amid high risks of getting infected by Covid-19.

One of them was Kate, in her 20s, who decided to quit her job as a registered nutritionist-dietitian in one of the major hospitals in Southern Luzon after she felt that her salary no longer compensate for the risks she had to take as she goes to work every day.

"Every single day, we go to work and stay in the same building where Covid-19 patients are being taken care of. But we are not entitled to receive the hazard pay because we do not work in the so-called 'critical areas,'" Kate told the Daily Tribune in a phone interview.

Kate worked at a Covid-19 referral hospital during the height of the pandemic in 2020, creating meal plans for in-house patients, including those with critical needs.

The thought of resigning came to her when the hospital had a Covid-19 outbreak among its employees for the second time.

Though she tested negative for Covid-19 when an outbreak hit their workplace for the first time, she got infected the second time and passed the disease to her then two-year-old son as well as to her husband, who was then working as a public school teacher.

Kate thought she cannot risk the life of her family for such little pay, so she decided to look for another source of livelihood.

She took the risk and became an online seller. Now she earns three times more than what she usually earns during her work at the hospital.

When the country celebrated Nurses' Week in October this year, the President promised to raise the profile and improve the working conditions of local health workers, particularly nurses.

He acknowledged that the current salaries and benefits of medical workers in the country will never be enough to compensate for their service.

Marcos also expressed his support for House Bill 9389 or the New Philippine Nursing Practice Act, seeking to impose additional protection and development of the nursing profession in the country.

Around the world, Marcos claimed that Filipino workers stood out from others not just for their competence and dedication, but for their "compassion and kindness."