Health workers continue to press for return of hazard pay
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA — Health workers continue to protest against the refusal of the Aquino government to release their hazard pay and other benefits. In a statement, the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) said health workers have been appealing to both the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for the last months, but to no avail.
Jossel Ebesate, AHW president, said that as of the second week of July, more than 29,000 health workers deployed all over the country have not received their hazard pay. What made the situation worse, Ebesate said, is when the DOH issued its Department Memorandum No. 2012-0181 last June 25 stopping the issuance of hazard pay until DBM approves the use of the concerned agency’s savings as per the latter’s guidelines.
The AHW said that the memorandum was issued without passing through consultations with health workers.
“This is a violation of the Magna Carta of Health Workers (R.A. 7305) and the Joint Resolution No 4. Hazard pay is a recognition of the health workers’ nature of work, which exposes them to occupational hazards as stipulated in the said laws. Every day as health workers enter their respective hospitals, they are exposed to risks of various types. All hospitals are homes of hazardous, and even lethal pathogens that spread over the entire place. Even the patients themselves pose threats to health workers’ lives like the mental patients at the National Center for Mental Health,” Ebesate pointed out..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/07/18/health-workers-continue-to-press-for-return-of-hazard-pay/
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