Press Release
MAGNA CARTA AMENDMENTS
Pangilinan seeks P10,000 monthly hazard pay, raise in OT and night differential for public health workers
AIMING to respond to the severe gaps in the already struggling healthcare system revealed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Senator Francis Kiko Pangilinan files several amendments to the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers. Malinaw na hindi sapat ang compensation para sa ating public health workers lalo na ngayong pandemya. Sila na nga ang nahaharap sa panganib, hindi pa mapunan ang kanilang mga pangangailangan upang, unang una, maging ligtas habang nasa frontlines at pangalawa, mabigyan ng katumbas na pasahod ang kanilang serbisyo, Pangilinan said.
Philippine government eases lockdown amid continued COVID surge
Beginning April 12, the Philippine government lowered the lockdown over Metro Manila, the national capital region, and the four adjacent provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal, to the second highest level. The order rejected the advice of medical experts to extend the stricter protocol imposed on March 29 amid a COVID-19 surge.
With infections at over 900,000 and rising at ten to twelve thousand a day, the highest rate since the pandemic began more than a year ago, the decision to lift restrictions is a death sentence to thousands of Filipino people. The fatality rate for COVID-19 cases in Metro Manila rose over the past month from 1.82 percent to 5.36 percent.
Solon seeks probe on supposed delayed benefits of health workers By ANNA FELICIA BAJO, GMA News
Published April 13, 2021 1:43pm A lawmaker on Tuesday sought investigation into the supposed delayed benefits of medical frontliners amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In filing House Resolution 1704, Manila Representative Manuel Luis Lopez, chairman of the committee on Metro Manila Development, said the compliance of public and private entities to provide health workers with all benefits, as mandated by law, must be checked. “The complaints from our essential workers should not fall on deaf ear, but rather, should compel us to review and reformulate the country’s COVID-19 response for the safety and welfare of our citizens and the nation as a whole,” Lopez said in a statement.
[New School] On the lack of healthcare professionals in the Philippines
Apr 11, 2021 10:00 AM PHT
Charlize Jacquelinn E. AbenirMaryjoy Loraine T. AlmonteJulianne Marie E. AntonioAriane Joy M. BeltranCarmelina C. BeltranMarielle Christine C. EvangelistaJanna Paula GutierrezGabrielle Anne C. IbuanMarc Louie D. Lucas
The Philippines is known for having one of the highest passing rates for healthcare worker examinations. Last June and November 2019, for instance, 12,686 examinees passed the Nursing Licensure Examination. Despite this, almost 75% of cities and municipalities around the country have an insufficient number of healthcare workers. Licensed professionals tend to migrate for potentially higher salaries and benefits, such as those in the United States and neighboring countries.
MANILA Health workers said hospitals are on the brink of collapse amid the spike in coronavirus cases in the country.
In a press conference Tuesday, April 7, Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) members said hospitals are overwhelmed with new patients every day and employees themselves are falling ill from the virus.
A number of health workers also resigned or have taken early retirement options due to fear, fatigue, frustration and severe demoralization, AHW said.
Emergency rooms, intensive care units, wards, isolation facilities of private and public hospitals are overcrowded and overflowing, the group said, while tents or modular container vans are full of patients waiting admission.