Hinimok ng isang kongresista si Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Teodoro Herbosa na alamin ang dahilan ng delay sa release ng COVID-19 allowances ng medical frontliners.
Ayon kay Camarines Sur Representative LRay Villaffuerte, welcome para sa kaniya ang pahayag ni Herbosa na titiyaking mai-release na ang anomang kabayaran na dapat ay naibigay sa healthcare workers.
Sa kasalukuyan mayroon pang ₱12.5-billion COVID-19 allowance ang hindi pa natatanggap ng HCWs.
Ayon sa Department of Budget and Management (DBM), nai-release na ang naturang pondo sa DOH ngunit hindi pa naibibigay ng naturang ahensya sa mga benepisyaryo.
Diin ni Villafuerte, kailangan masagot ng DBM at DOH kung nasaan na nga ba ang naturang pondo.
“So where is the balance of ₱12.57-billion ostensibly released by the DBM for the payment of arrears in emergency benefits and allowances due our HCWs and non-HCWs? This is something that the newly-appointed DOH Secretary needs to look into,” diin ng kongresista.
Umaasa naman ang mambabatas na kagyat na matatanggap na ng mga HCW ang naturang allowance sa pamumuno ng bagong kalihim ng DOH lalo at isa ring medical practitioner si Herbosa at dating adviser ng National Task Force Against COVID-19.
“We hope that newly-appointed Secretary Ted (Herbosa), who is a longtimer in the healthcare sector, would deliver on his promise to give priority to looking into the still-unpaid Covid-19 allowances—and get to the bottom of what happened to the ₱12.5-billion in COVID-19 allowances that the DBM claimed to have released to the DOH months back but which have yet to be handed out by the health department to the intended beneficiary-HCWs and non-HCWs, as provided by law,” saad ni Villafuerte. | ulat ni Kathleen Jean Forbes
