Tuesday, May 08, 2007 Speak out: The challenge continues By Speak out: The challenge continues
IT HAS been 19 years since former president Corazon Aquino issued Proclamation 96 declaring May 7 every year as Health Workers’ Day.
Unfortunately, our government has seemingly failed to recognize the significance of May 7 and neglected the welfare of our country’s health workers who have provided essential services to our people in hospitals, health centers and communities nationwide.
There are over 74,000 public health workers nationwide. In spite of the passage of the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers (MCPHW) or Republic Act 7305 in 1992, the conditions of our public doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, sanitary inspectors, barangay health workers, employees in government health agencies and other health workers have not improved.
Today, most health workers receive salaries way below the P 16,000 cost-of-living for a family of six set by the National Economic Development Authority.
Worse, along with the meager pay, public health workers also bear difficult working conditions. Understaffing and increasing number of patients have compromised quality patient care in certain government tertiary hospitals. Health workers have also been deprived of benefits due them under the MCPHW.
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Many health workers in government hospitals, sanitaria, health centers, rural health units, barangay health workers, clinics and other health-related government establishments have not received their hazard allowance (equivalent to at least 25 percent of the monthly basic salary of health workers receiving salary grade 19 and below, and five percent for health workers with salary grade 20 and above), subsistence allowance, longevity pay, laundry allowance, clothing allowance, overtime pay, and night shift differential pay.
The major cause of our health workers’ problems and the deteriorating health delivery system of the country is the inadequate budget allocation and low priority given for the health sector. Since 1998, our health budget has been decreasing, far from the World Health Organization-prescribed standard of five percent of the Gross National Product. From P 13.66 billion in 2006 (1.30 percent) it has dropped to P 11.7 in 2007. Defense and debt servicing have instead gotten a big chunk of the budget.
After the devolution of health under the Local Government Code in 1991, the provincial government and many municipalities have still to give the health workers in district hospitals, health centers and rural health units the benefits that they are entitled to.
Public health workers, together with other government employees, are pillars of the national government. They are the link in providing vital services to the people whom our government leaders have promised to serve. Congress enacted the MCPHW precisely “to promote and improve the social and economic well-being of the health workers, their living conditions and terms of employment.
We call on the government to implement a P3,000 across-the-board monthly salary increase for all government employees.
Fully implement the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers and other benefits. Elevate health, education and other social services as topmost priorities in the annual budget. And provide basic health services to the people.
