P9 billion released for health workers’ risk allowance

MANILA, Philippines — With just days to go before the expiration of the Bayanihan 1 pandemic aid law, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has approved the release of P9.02 billion to the Department of Health (DOH) to cover the special risk allowance or SRA of health workers exposed to COVID.

Yesterday, the DBM said it handed the special allotment release order and the notice of cash allocation for the payment of SRA of public and private health practitioners. This will provide the DOH funds to pay them P5,000 per month from Dec. 20, 2020 to June 30 this year.

President Duterte on June 1 signed Administrative Order 42 that grants COVID-19 SRA to health workers exposed by their duty to the virus.

Under this order, the SRA will be pro-rated based on the number of days that a medical personnel reported for work in a month as certified by the head of the hospital, laboratory or quarantine facility.

According to the DBM, health workers qualified for the SRA can expect to get theirs on or before June 30, 2021.

“The DBM is committed to fulfill its mandate of promoting the efficient and effective management of the national budget to support its budget priorities while also ensuring that the needs of the Filipino people are met, especially of healthcare workers in this time of pandemic,” it said.

It noted a June 16 joint circular with the DOH that the funding for the SRA will be sourced from Republic Act 11494 or Bayanihan 1, which allocated P13.5 billion for health-related responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Appropriations under the stimulus package are scheduled to expire on June 30, the same date for the deadline of release of SRA.