Labor group hits P500 daily pay for COVID-19 health workers

March 28, 2020

Labor group Defend Jobs Philippines criticized the Department of Health (DOH) for its P500 daily pay  to volunteer health workers in the battle against the COVID-19 crisis.

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In a statement Saturday, Defend Jobs Philippines spokesman Thaddeus Ifurung said the provision of P500 daily pay for healthcare volunteers is  unacceptable as it is below the prevailing minimum wage rate in the National Capital Region (NCR).

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"We are enraged to know that DOH, as a government agency, violates our own labor policies as it does not comply to the minimum wage requirement mandated by law," said Ifurung.

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He is referring to volunteer doctors, nurses, and other medical workers, who will be deployed to the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City, Philippine General Hospital in Manila City, or Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital in Caloocan City.

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The minimum wage rate in Metro Manila stands at P537 per day.

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Ifurung said the P500 per day salary is simply insufficient considering the danger they are facing.

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"If the Health Department is really serious in addressing and resolving the COVID-19 pandemic, then it must first and foremost take care of the welfare of our medical and non-medical professionals, who are risking their lives in the frontline of the battle against coronavirus," he said.

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"These people must be well-compensated and must be well-taken cared of at all times and at all cost," added Ifurung.

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Earlier, the DOH invited volunteer health workers to render eight hours of daily work for 14 days in three designated COVID-19 referral hospitals. DMS