DBM Releases P1.04 Billion for Health Workers’ Risk Allowance

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) released on Monday the special risk allowance (SRA) for health workers worth P1.04 billion, Budget and Management Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said via a press release on Tuesday.

The release of the SRA is in compliance with Republic Act (RA) 11494, also known as the "Bayanihan to Recover As One Act," which stipulates the provision of allowances and benefits to all public and private health workers who cater to or are in contact with COVID-19 patients.

Eligible health workers – medical, allied medical and other personnel assigned to hospitals and health care facilities – are expected to receive a monthly grant of P5,000 for the services they provided during the COVID-19 national emergency, the DBM said.

In a media forum on Oct. 3, Health Officer in Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said that 55, 211 health care workers will receive their backpays from September 2020 to June 2021. The Department of Health further requested additional funding from the DMB worth P11.5 billion for the unpaid health emergency allowance from January to June of 2022.

In addition to that, the government also needs to provide P64 billion to cover the backpay for the period of June to December 2021 as mandated in RA 11712.

"We have arrears to our health care workers because the law for health emergency allowance specifically states that we should pay them retroactively from June to December 2021, and we don't have funds for it. This is what we are requesting [from the] Congress so we can pay them," Vergeire said.