MANILA – A group of workers on Monday lauded the announcement of the Department of Health (DOH) to hire some 800 health workers to augment its workforce amid the rising cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in the country.
“NAGKAISA! Labor Coalition is elated on the announcement of the DOH to hire health workers to augment its workforce. This is a breath of fresh air in the midst of a contagion,” said Nagkaisa chairman Sonny Matula in a statement.
The group also called on the DOH to hire these health workers as regular government employees.
“We, however, urge DOH that these health workers be hired as part of the civil service not merely as on "contracts of service,” which is a precarious working arrangement. At this time, we are calling citizens to render personal civil service but, by merely giving them "contracts of service", the call of DOH seemingly has no rhyme and rhythm with the constitutional policy under Section 4 of Article II. Health workers under "contracts service" are not employees of the DOH -- thus, they are not part of the civil service,” Matula added.
He also urged the DOH to prioritize in its hiring process health workers who earlier volunteered to help in containing the pandemic and that they be upgraded as health workers with salaries, depending on their qualifications, equivalent to the salary grades (SG) of their functions, like nurses (SG 15 to 18) or doctors (SG 21 to 24).
“We reiterate that the government must also take care of our local private health workers if we would like them to remain in the country. They should also be given hazard pay of PHP500/day like that of their public sector counterpart or 25 percent of their basic salary, whichever is higher. A subsidy from government funds is highly recommended,” Matula added.
The group also urged the DOH to provide a plan on how it intends to build up the public health system to determine how many more health workers we would still need.
On Sunday, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said an initial 857 healthcare workers will be hired that would be deployed to three referral hospitals for the Covid-19.
The DOH added that these health personnel would be hired with "contracts of service" include physicians, nurses, medical technologists, respiratory therapists, radiologic technologists, medical equipment technicians, nursing attendants, administrative assistants or aides, and other personnel, as may be necessary. (PNA)
