editorial The best way to thank our healthcare workers

Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corporation is a supplier of medical equipment, including face masks and face shields. according to Securities and Exchange Commission, the company was established on September 4, 2019 with a paid-up capital of P625,000. Despite being a small, newly created company that lacked the funds, track record, and credibility to handle big-ticket government procurement, Pharmally bagged 13 contracts with the government worth P10.85 billion.

Amid allegations of overpriced medical supplies that Pharmally delivered to the government for its Covid response, the Senate blue ribbon committee launched an investigation into the matter and uncovered other issues.

For example, Senator Risa Hontiveros presented a video of an alleged male Pharmally warehouse employee who claimed that the company directed them to repack “deformed, soiled and substandard” face shields meant for healthcare workers (HCWs). The man claimed that they were asked to repack deformed and dirty face shields and to replace the certificates of face shields dated 2020 with new certificates dated 2021.

Was it possible that the “dirty, soiled and substandard” face shields that Pharmally delivered to the Department of Health and worn by our healthcare workers made them vulnerable to the virus? As of September 13, 2021, based on the DOH Covid-19 situation report, a total of 104 healthcare workers who contracted Covid-19 have died. They were among 24,284 HCWs that tested positive for Covid during the period.

The government did not only make tens of thousands of our healthcare workers wear dirty and substandard face shields. About 20,000 HCWs and non-HCWs that rendered duty in private hospitals during the pandemic have yet to receive their Covid-19 allowances.

Taking up the cudgels for them, Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte wants to know from the Department of Health when it intends to pay about P12.57 billion worth of health emergency allowances due health-care workers and non-HCWs. He said the Department of Budget and Management claimed to have already released the money to the DOH. (Read, “Villafuerte to DOH: When do you intend to settle P12.57B allowances due health-care workers?,” in the BusinessMirror, June 5, 2023).

“That our medical frontliners have yet to receive the promised remuneration for their life-saving efforts at the height of Covid-19 after the World Health Organization had already declared this global public health emergency as over leaves a bad taste in the mouth,” said Villafuerte, the principal author in the House of Representatives of Republic Act (RA) 11469 or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act” (Bayanihan 1) that provided for such extra benefits to HCWs and non-HCWs.

The DBM claimed to have already released P19.96 billion to the DOH to pay for the public health emergency benefits and allowances of HCWs and non-HCWs, in accordance with RA 11469 and RA 11712. It added that of the P19.96 billion in released funds, the DOH already utilized P7.39 billion as of March 31, 2023.

RA 11712 gives HCWs a monthly health emergency allowance of P3,000 for health workers in low-risk areas; P6,000 for those in moderate-risk areas; and P9,000 for medical frontliners in high-risk places. Healthcare workers are supposed to receive the benefits during the pandemic.

According to the United Private Hospital Unions of the Philippines (UPHUP), the total unpaid benefits of 20,304 HCWs is P1.84 billion, broken down as follows: One Covid-19 allowance worth P985.6 million; P737.5 million worth of health emergency allowance; special risk allowance totaling P16.8 million; and meals, accommodation and transportation benefits reaching P6.7 million. The intended HCW-beneficiaries are working in 23 private hospitals in Metro Manila and in Batangas, Cavite, Cebu and Davao del Sur, the UPHUP said.

Villafuerte said one of the options reportedly being eyed by the DOH to speed up the release of the Covid-19 allowances and other benefits for HCWs is to amend its joint administrative order with the DBM by tapping authorized government depository banks to clear the way for the direct payment of the One Covid-19 allowance and other benefits to the medical frontliners.

Our healthcare workers sacrificed their lives to save patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is disheartening to see them beg for unpaid benefits and allowances. It would do well for the government to recognize the difficult and incredibly valuable service they did during the pandemic. And the best way to show our gratitude to our healthcare workers is to speed up the payment of their Covid-19 allowances and other benefits.