In a recent Committee on Finance hearing on Thursday, 28 September, for the Department of Health's budget, Senator Christopher "Bong" Go expressed concern over the proposed P19.9-billion funding allocated for the unpaid allowances of healthcare workers, asking whether these are enough to cover the entire workforce.

"We want to know if this budget is enough to cover the balances due to our healthcare workers. We must properly compensate our health workforce," said Go in a recent Committee on Finance hearing last 28 September.

Go's concerns echo his previous calls for the DoH and the Department of Budget and Management to expedite the release of Covid-19 allowances for healthcare workers. He emphasized the urgency of providing healthcare workers with their well-deserved benefits, especially for their services during the pandemic.

Go is one of the authors and co-sponsors in the Senate of Republic Act 11712, which grants benefits and allowances to healthcare workers during public health emergencies like the Covid-19 pandemic.

Public and private healthcare workers covered by the law are entitled to emergency allowance for every month of service during a state of public health emergency based on the risk categorization.

"While we are doing everything to make healthcare more accessible to Filipinos, let us not forget our healthcare workers. I am appealing to DoH and our finance managers to make sure that the benefits due to our healthcare workers in accordance with prevailing laws are released efficiently and without further delays," he said.

GM