Higher salaries sought for doctors in rural areas

MANILA, Philippines — While backing the Marcos administration’s plan to build more rural clinics and specialty hospitals, a group of medical doctors called for the granting of higher salaries and additional incentives for health care workers (HCWs) assigned in far-flung areas.

Benito Atienza, former president of the Philippine Medical Association, said there are existing health facilities in rural areas but these could not provide services due to a lack of health workers.

For the past two years, Atienza said, the PMA has been focusing efforts on so-called geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIGA) of the country.

“This is what we should focus on, the less fortunate areas in our country that have facilities but lack doctors, nurses and med techs,” Atienza said in Filipino and English during the Laging Handa public briefing yesterday.

He said the Council of Professional Health Organization has been pushing for the granting of higher salaries and additional incentives for HCWs.

“Would that the salaries were raised so they’ll go to GIGA areas and receive many incentives. These are places that doctors don’t reach but have facilities that only need to be improved,” Atienza said.

He said the new administration should open more medical facilities which directly get its funding from the national government.

He expressed support for the plan to build more specialty hospitals as promised by President Marcos in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Atienza said specialty hospitals are also necessary to provide training to doctors who would be deployed to GIGA areas.

At the post-SONA economic briefing, health department officer in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the government intends to tap the medical service corps in the operations of more rural health centers.

“These medical service corps, we’ve thought that out because of this pandemic. We saw how we lacked HCWs and we don’t want that repeated,” Vergeire said mostly in Filipino.