With the continued struggle against COVID-19, healthcare workers are exploited by the nation’s leaders, depriving them of their much-deserved benefits as they work to alleviate the global health crisis. While the fight for warranted consideration takes place, our frontliners are facing the biggest threat that could define the state of healthcare in the Philippines.

Healthcare workers have been left struggling since March 2020 when the war against COVID-19 began. They uphold their duty to serve but, unfortunately, at the expense of their own welfare since the government fails to provide them a livable Special Risk Allowance (SRA). Medical frontliners, donning hazmat suits and respirators, have taken their pleas to the streets, exposing the government’s disregard of their call for a proper, functional healthcare system.

Less than the bare minimum

The government’s appointment of ex-military leaders to head the COVID-19 response through the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) raised concerns for the nation. This seemingly questionable appointment made the country’s healthcare system dysfunctional for both patients and medical workers, making a solution to the pandemic yet another distant dream.

In an interview with The Benildean, presidential aspirant Ka Leody De Guzman discussed that the administration’s COVID-19 response did not cater to the healthcare workers’ needs for better accommodation. 

“Kaya dapat ay paunlarin talaga ang sektor ng kalusugan. At para magawa ‘yan, talagang [dapat] magkaroon ng sapat na budget. Ang sa akin lang, ulit-ulitin ko, dapat ‘to hawak ng gobyerno dahil ang gobyerno ang nasa posisyon para magbigay ng serbisyo. Kasi pag nasa pribado, ang pangunahing interes niyan [ay] tubo eh, dahil negosyo. Kaya tingin ko dapat maging aral, maging aral sa lahat, at sa susunod na mga pamahalaan o pepuwestong administrasyon, ‘yung nangyaring dilubyo o problema na inihatid nitong COVID-19.”

Moreover, the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged the Department of Health (DOH) for its inefficient use of its ₱67.3 billion fund against COVID-19. For its 2021 budget, DOH was provided with ₱4.3 billion, which was 5.7% higher than the previous year’s ₱4.1 billion budget. The country’s medical budget in 2021 was also significantly lower compared to the Department of National Defense (DND)’s share of ₱58 billion, which indicates the administration’s priority on law enforcement sectors in spite of the pandemic plaguing the country.

Unsung and undervalued

The Benildean also interviewed Dr. Leonard Javier, a physician and community health advocate, who shared the mental gymnastics health workers endure as they tackle COVID-19. 

“...There’s that survival fear na parang, ‘What if I contract the disease today or tomorrow? What if mahawa ko ‘yung family members ko?’ […] Parang hindi mo na alam kung ano ‘yung pwedeng mangyari kasi doctors have died, nurses have died, health workers are getting sick–still getting sick [and dying] of the infection,” he shared.

Dr. Javier also shared that other health workers such as janitorial staff were also suffering from the pandemic as they could not afford to miss work, regardless if they contracted the disease. 

“Therefore, on a larger scale, the health system just follows how our national government treats the problem, parang as [a] militarized problem of peace and order, therefore not providing actual health-based solutions. For example, actual ayuda para sa mga dapat mag-isolate at nawalan ng trabaho. “No work, no pay” pa rin ‘yung marami sa mga ospital. ‘Yung paid quarantine leaves, virtually non-existent for other workers, tapos hindi rin nai-implement sa napakaraming health workers,” he emphasized.

He also mentioned how healthcare workers had to fight for their Special Risk Allowance (SRA). “If you see on the news, minsan nagkakaroon ng mga strike sa mga ospital, or tigil-paggawa, or moments of protest talaga kasi we need to get what we deserve, and this is a lot less than we deserve.”

The healthcare workers’ call for protection against COVID-19 has always fallen deaf from the government’s ears. On Sept. 1, 2021, healthcare workers protested outside DOH, calling out Health Secretary Francisco Duque III’s failure to release the benefits and SRAs before the health workers’ imposed deadline. 

Moreover, in October 2021, the Nurses United partylist was denied reconsideration for representation by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to run for congress in the 2022 national elections. In December 2021, former COMELEC Commissioner Rowena Guanzon noted COMELEC’s decision on the basis of a defective application, such as “lacking in consent from other members” and “no manifestation of intent to participate” in the upcoming elections. Such denial had further hindered the Nurses United partylist to properly represent the healthcare sector in the government. 

Justice denied

The pandemic had not only exposed the weaknesses of the Philippine healthcare system, but also the inadequacy of our lawmakers and existing measures to ensure the frontliners’ protection and promotion of their rights and welfare.

“Madami talagang reports tayong natatanggap na maliit lang ang nakukuha ng healthcare worker. One report is of a nurse who died of COVID-19, and when her daughter was claiming her active hazard duty pay, which is [supposed to be] ₱500 a day—she only received ₱60 a day,” Chel Diokno, human rights lawyer and Senatorial aspirant, disclosed with The Benildean.

Healthcare workers are denied benefits, such as the ₱1 million compensation in case of their death, specified under Bayanihan Heal as One Act 1 and Bayanihan to Recover as One Act 2. Due to the lapses of the law, pandemic response programs such as vaccine rollouts and laboratory testing remain unfunded. Compensations were also affected as the release of ₱3,000 monthly hazard pay failed to comply on time, Inquirer reported.

In addition, health agencies were also allegedly misusing funds, as demonstrated in the recent Pharmally probe, where at least ₱67 billion worth of pandemic funds from the DOH were poorly used, with about ₱550 million spent on expired COVID-19 test kits.

“The government is funded by taxpayer’s money– the money that comes from all of us. They are supposed to use that money only for proper purposes. And yet… there are a lot of questions about how the people’s money is used to buy what appeared to be overpriced medical supplies and equipment of questionable quality,” Atty. Diokno added. 

The present mistreatment of healthcare workers and the politicization of their benefits are a derogation to each Filipinos’ right to health and justice. As a frontliner in mitigating the risk of the virus, the primary objective should be the promotion of the rights and welfare of healthcare workers. The government must ensure the strengthening of healthcare systems as mandated by law—and part of it is guaranteeing assistance and provisions that safeguard our frontline workers.

There needs to be a tangible demonstration of the protection of rights and welfare of our healthcare workers because without proper governmental amends, the pandemic will continue to anguish the silenced.

With reports from Zophia Emmanuelle Tendido