MANILA – Sen. Leila de Lima is proposing an amendment to the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers – the establishment of an emergency fund for those who suffer workplace injury.
“With the myriad challenges faced by our health workers and the expanse of hard work and sacrifice they give, it is imperative that reforms and regulations be made and adopted by amending and expanding” the law, de Lima said in Senate Bill 1793.
Under the bill, all health workers shall be given additional benefits under the “Public Health Worker Emergency Compensation.”
They shall also be entitled to 100 percent of their monthly salary after unfortunate incidents – including permanent total disability or death – that took place while the worker is discharging their duty, the bill stated.
The emergency compensation package shall apply to public health workers deployed in hospitals, sanitaria, rural health centers, infirmaries, barangay health stations, clinics, and other health-related establishments.
Public health workers in the Philippines are underpaid and opt to work overseas for higher salary, de Lima lamented.
A total of 92,277 Filipino nurses have left the country since 2012 to seek job opportunities abroad, she said, citing government data.
The Philippines produces only 2,600 doctors a year, for a ratio of one doctor for every 33,000 Filipinos. The World Health Organization recommends an ideal doctor-patient ratio of 1:10,000, said de Lima.
This “grossly disproportionate and inadequate number of health workers in the country” results in “an inadequate health care system,” she said.
This is “further aggravated by the non-implementation of benefits mandated by the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers, such as overtime pay, nightshift differential, on-call pay, and hazard pay,” she added./PN
