Senators have moved to have legislation passed expanding the coverage of pandemic-related benefits beyond health workers who directly handle Covid-19 patients.
Senate bill 2371 introduced by Senators Richard Gordon and Sonny Angara, mandates the giving of special risk allowance (SRA), throughout the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, to all public and private health workers, regardless of their employment status.
Health workers in this bill are the medical, allied medical workers and other personnel assigned to hospitasl, healthcare facilities, laboratories, medical or quarantine facilities, vaccination sites and all those rendering medical assistance.
Also to be covered are non-medical and outsourced personnel tapped by medical facilities and who were exposed to Covid19.
If the bill is enacted, these personnel will get hazard duty pay for every month they serve in the pandemic, plus life insurance, accommodation, transportation and meal allowances, regardless of the community quarantine status.
The issue of who is covered by the SRA and related benefits arose in recent Senate hearings on the Department of Health (DOH) funds’ use in 2020. In those hearings, Gordon — later supported by other senators — observed that many health workers are exposed to health risks from their simple presence in hospitals and related facilities, and deserve protection through such benefits as well.
Senators agreed that it’s not just the health workers directly treating Covid-19 patients who deserve the SRA and other benefits, but all those exposed to Covid-19 as well.
Meanwhile, the proposed Senate bill will continue the mandate of Bayanihan 2 to extend P1 million in benefits to the family of healthworker who dies in line of duty; P100,000 to the health worker who suffers from severe or critical Covid-19 and P15,000 for mild and moderate cases.
The measure if passed is retroactive to July 1, 2021, is tax-exempt, and will be in effect for as long as the President has not lifted his declaration of a state of national public health emergency from Covid-19.
The available DOH budget will be used to fund the measure; and it will be included in the proposed national budget for 2022.
Earlier, last Sunday, Health Committee chairman Senator Christopher Go supported the notion of granting SRA/other pandemic benefits to all health workers.
He appealed to DOH to study the possibility of expanding the provision of the SRA to all health workers who are serving in health facilities during the COVID-19 crisis.
In an interview on Sunday, Go reminded the DOH to ensure that health workers are sufficiently supported at this time by taking the necessary steps to address any impediment that may prevent the timely release of the SRA and other related forms of support.
“For me, this deserves close study. I am appealing to the DOH to study this. Let’s give importance to the health workers, whether in private or public hospitals because they are at the frontlines of this battle. COVID-19 is the enemy and the lives of health workers are at stake,” emphasized Go.
The senator explained that the Bayanihan 2 Act limits the provision of the SRA to health workers who are in “direct contact with COVID-19 patients”. He, however, argued that given the number of cases being catered to in hospitals and health facilities, almost all health workers can fall within the scope of the definition.