More than 4,000 health workers from the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) have not received their One COVID Allowance (OCA) and other allowances, according to an employees’ organization of the hospital Thursday.
According to Karen Faurillo, President of the All UP Workers Union-Manila/PGH, the hospital’s employees have not receive their OCA since April.
“The PGH health workers are already feeling impatient and angry because until now our One COVID Allowance has not been given since April, May, and June,” Faurillo said, in an interview with TeleRadyo on Thursday.
“And we are also waiting for the so-called Health Emergency Allowance, which supposedly started in July, to be given. But until now, the majority, more than 4,000 PGH health workers, have not been received),” she said.
Faurillo has appealed to the national government to immediately give all the allowances and what is already due to the employees of the PGH.
“I really hope that proper attention and funding will be given and that they must expedite this because here at the hospital we act quickly. Because that is what the job and the situation demand, and we just want to see the same response from our government),” she said.
Faurillo said the PGH has already submitted to the Department of Health (DOH) all the necessary requirements asked by the health department.
“But they said that there is no budget, so we can’t receive it because they said no budget has been released, despite the fact that the health workers have already worked on this,” she said.
Faurillo also said that several health workers have already died, retired or left the Philippines for better opportunities abroad, but have failed to receive their allowances.
The DOH earlier said that the department had already coordinated with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in order to release the budget for the next tranche of benefits for health workers.
The DOH also said that they have already released to the hospitals and health centers the benefits from January to March this year.