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Privatization-promoting, red-tagging new health secretary ‘big insult’ to health workers

A group of health workers are opposing Teodoro Herbosa’s appointment as Department of Health (DOH) secretary, calling the development a “big insult” to the service.

The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) said that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ignored their call that his administration’s health chief must have an excellent track record on good governance, accountability, integrity and not involved in any anomalous transactions in the government.

The group added in a June 8, 2022 statement that the new health secretary must be pro-people, pro-health workers and audient and responsive to the legitimate issues and concerns of the health workers for safety, protection, rights and welfare as well as the health of the people.

“Obviously, [Marcos’] appointment of Herbosa is a clear manifestation of the President’s extreme lack of concern for the lives, health, and welfare of the health workers and the people,” the AHW said in response to Malacanang’s announcement of Herbosa’s appointment last Monday.

“Herbosa’s appointment is a big insult to health workers and indigent patients who rely on free and quality health services in public hospitals and other health facilities,” AHW added.

‘Business mad red-tagger’

Health workers have not forgotten that as DOH undersecretary from 2010-2015, Herbosa promoted the sale of the Philippine Orthopedic Center, abolition of Fabella Hospital and privatizing to some extent the operations of government hospitals, AHW said.

Herbosa previously chaired the DOH Central Office’s Bids and Awards Committee and cluster head of Metro Manila and Southern Luzon Public-Private Partnership Projects, the group revealed.

“Privatization of public hospitals and other public health services will result to higher income generation by collecting higher fees from the patients while health workers will be subjected to more inhumane working conditions,” AHW said.

At the height of COVID-19 pandemic, Herbosa was appointed as an adviser of Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and must be among those who must be blamed for the “inefficiency, criminal negligence and failure of government’s COVID-19 response, the group added.

AHW said the government still does not have a comprehensive plan on how to eliminate the virulent disease.

AHW also complained that the new DOH chief is an “ardent red-tagger” who targeted health workers who demanded for their much-deserved COVID-19 benefits, protection and welfare especially during the surge of pandemic.

In a Tweet, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan president Renato Reyes Jr. also recalled Herbosa’s controversial October 2020 statement branding demands for justice for Baby River Nasino’s early death as “cadaver politics.”

“Appointing him will surely fatten the bellies of corrupt officials, and will further worsen the dismal condition of health workers and the people, the AHW said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Pahayag ng AHW kaugnay sa isolation at quarantine ng COVID-infected health workers

Tinututulan ng Alliance of Health Workers ang panibagong guidelines na ibinaba ng Department of Health kung saan gagawing mas maiksi ang isolation at quarantine sa mga manggagawang pangkalusugan na humaharap ngayon sa Covid-19.

Health workers say hospitals ‘on the brink of collapse’

By Joseph Cuevas

Health workers said hospitals are on the brink of collapse amid the spike in new number of coronavirus cases around the country.

In a press conference Tuesday, April 7, Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) members said hospitals are overwhelmed with new patients every day and employees themselves are falling ill from the virus.

A number of health workers also resigned or have taken early retirement options due to fear, fatigue, frustration and severe demoralization, AHW said.

Emergency rooms, intensive care units, wards, isolation facilities of private and public hospitals are overcrowded and overflowing, the group said, while tents or modular container vans are full of patients waiting admission.

“Even ordinary rooms are now being used as COVID wards. Outpatient departments are closed in most hospitals and many patients are being bumped off,” the group added.

AHW said understaffing schemes by hospitals force health workers to be on duty for at least 12 hours or even 24 hours while some hospitals only have skeletal forces.

Contractualization in some hospitals, such as job order and contract of services especially for nurses, has worsened during the pandemic, AHW revealed.

AHW officer Sean Velchez said 117 out of 180 Philippine Orthopedic Center employees are Covid-positive.

Screenshot of the AHW=led online press conference.

Delayed benefits and other issues

Union officers of the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital and National Kidney and Transplant Institute said their hazard pay, performance bonus and health risk allowances have been delayed since 2019.

Meal and transportation allowances are also on hold after the Department of Health (DOH) recalled funds for said benefits, the unions said.

Cristy Donguines of the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Hospital said medical equipment like personal protective gears and gloves as well as medical supplies like oxygen tanks and others are also on low supply.

Philippine General Hospital’s Karen Faurillo complained of failed contact tracing as well as lack of mass testing, isolation and treatment for health workers.

Kodao file photo of an AHW protest action. (Joseph Cuevas/Kodao)

Collapsing health care system

Solidarity of Health Advocates and Personnel for a Unified Plan to Defeat COVID-19 (SHAPE-UP) convenor Dr. Eleanor Jara revealed that primary and secondary health care systems are also failing to help the spread of the virus.

Jara said important community level Covid interventions such as mass testing, contact tracing, equipped quarantine and isolation facilities are inadequate.

Jara, whose husband was among the first medical workers lost to Covid in 2020, said the situation will only worsen as the Department of Health continues to deny government’s inept and failed Covid response.

“The government must also held accountable for the death of 97 health workers since the pandemic and the rising cases of Covid-19 among health workers and people,” she said.

The AHW demanded an overhaul of the inter-agency task force’s militaristic response to the pandemic as well as the resignation of health secretary Francisco Duque.

The group said the Rodrigo Duterte government must also be held accountable for its failed pandemic response. #

‘Hindi ECQ ang solusyon sa pagdami ng COVID cases’

“Hindi ECQ ang solusyon sa pagdami ng COVID cases sa ngayon kundi [ang] paghigpit sa preventive measures. Palitan na ang mga bumubuo ng IATF at ilagay ang mga health expert at mga scientist para magkaroon ng scientific at comprehensive na plano para masugpo itong COVID-19 na ito. Solusyong medikal, hindi militar!Robert Mendoza, National President, Alliance of Health Workers

Governor apologizes after accusing teachers of ‘doing nothing’

Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba was forced to issue an apology following his accusation that teachers are doing less work with the government’s blended learning scheme.

Mamba told radio station DZRH Saturday that “teachers are simply enjoying themselves at home and receiving salaries without working.”

Mamba added that he thinks that the government is being shortchanged and hinted that teachers’ salaries may be slashed soon.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) president Joselyn Fegalan said Mamba had no right to accuse teachers of doing less work as teachers are in fact burdened by greater workload due to the Department of Education’s blended learning scheme.

“Teachers deserve an apology. You go back to that radio station and say sorry,” Fegalan said.

Mamba is ignorant of the situation of teachers even in his home province, ACT secretary general Raymond Basilio added.

“It seems he does not know that many teachers spend their already inadequate salaries to buy paper, laptops, printers and ink because the government has yet to fully provide these,” he said.

“Gov, it’s World Teachers Day on Monday (today, October 5) and this is your message to them? Is this how you thank them?” Basilio asked.

The Student Council of the University of the Philippines College of Education also condemned Mamba’s remarks as “patently insensitive, infuriating and disrespectful of the teachers’ effort to educate amid the pandemic.”

‘Just being fatherly’

Mamba in a statement Sunday he is sorry and did not mean to hurt any teacher, adding he wanted to challenge everyone with his remarks.

In another DZRH interview Sunday, Mamba said he has high regard for teachers as shown by his administration’s involvement of teachers in provincial government projects.

Mamba added he was just being fatherly in lecturing just as he was in admitting mistakes.

A source from Mamba’s camp told Kodao that the interviewer did not give the governor a chance to fully explain what he meant as the interview was at its end. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

‘We are all victims of the gross neglect of the DOH and Duterte administration’

“We are saddened and angered by what happened to our dear colleague and other health workers who died fighting COVID-19. We are all victims of the gross neglect of the DOH and Duterte administration. This administration does not value health workers because even in (Duterte’s) 5th State of the Nation Address, he still did not lay down comprehensive, systematic and scientific measures on how to defeat the virus.” Cristy Donguines, President, Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center Employees Union-Alliance of Health Workers

‘We urge the government to address our demands before it’s too late’

“They cannot blame many health workers for not applying for work because we are aware that the DOH and the Duterte administration do not care about our welfare. Many have resigned from their post because, for a long time, we are always neglected. We urge the government to increase the salaries of health workers, regularize contractuals and address our demands before it’s too late.”Robert Mendoza, President, Alliance of Health Workers

‘Look into the plight of our fellow health workers’

“Today, Health Workers’ Day, we call on the government to look into the plight of our fellow health workers and the public hospitals. We reiterate our demand to increase the public health system budget to at least 5% of the GDP as WHO recommends. This will make health care available to the people and will slowdown the COVID-19 infections.”

Robert Mendoza, RM.
National President,
Alliance of Health Workers

PH 0 of 6 in WHO condition for ending COVID lockdown

By Sanaf Marcelo

A community medicine expert said that the Philippines scores zero out of six in the World Health Organization (WHO) list of conditions for ending coronavirus lockdowns.

University of the Philippines College of Medicine Assistant Professor Gene Nisperos told an online forum organized by the health group Second Opinion PH last Thursday, April 23, that the Philippines is failing to meet any of the conditions set by the global health organization for lifting lockdowns aimed at reversing the pandemic.

Nisperos said the way heath workers continue to be at risk indicates how the Philippines is so far failing to turn the tide against the disease.

“The Department of Health (DOH) has reported that there are 1,062 health workers infected by the COVID-19 which, at 13%, is the highest in Asia,” Nisperos said.

In its Covid-19 strategy update published last April 14, the WHO said the following must be met before governments could think about lifting their imposed lockdown:

1. Disease transmission is under control;

2. Health systems are able to “detect, test, isolate and treat every case and trace every contact”;

3. Hot spot risks are minimized in vulnerable places, such as nursing homes;

4. Schools, workplaces and other essential places have established preventive measures;

5. The risk of importing new cases “can be managed”; and

6. Communities are fully educated, engaged and empowered to live under a new normal.

“We must admit that our country is one of the countries that have a weak health system even if the Department of Health keeps denying it,” Nisperos added.

Sean Velchez, a nurse at the Philippine Orthopedic Center, said that it looks like the government is still on Day One of its lockdown even if the enhanced community quarantine in wide areas throughout the country has already passed its 38th day.

‘We in the hospitals are mainly dependent on the PPEs and medicine donations from the private sector because the government cannot provide enough protective equipment for the health workers,” Velchez said.

 The two health workers urged the DOH to take the lead role in directing the country’s response to the pandemic and cease from simply listening to directives from politicians.

DOH should be more proactive and must have the plans and recommendations for this to fight COVID-19, they said.

Gov’t extends ECQ to May 15

Meanwhile, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced that the government has decided to extend the ECQ to 15 more days when the first extension expires on April 30.

Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte is extending the ECQ on the National Capital Region, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog to May 15.

Roque said Duterte agreed with the recommendations submitted by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to also extend the lockdown on other high-risk areas in Luzon, such as Pangasinan, Benguet, Mindoro island, Albay and Catanduanes.

ECQs are also being imposed in Antique, Iloilo, Cebu and Cebu City, Aklan and Capiz in the Visayas and Davao del Norte, Davao City and Davao de Oro in Mindanao. # (With reports from R. Villanueva)

Health group demands mandatory mass testing for all health workers

By Joseph Cuevas

The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) demanded from the Duterte administration and the Department of Health (DOH) the implementation of free mandatory Coronavirus mass testing for all health workers in public and private hospitals and health facilities.

In a statement, AHW president Robert Mendoza said they disagree with the statement issued by the DOH last Tuesday that only patients and healthcare workers who exhibit mild, severe and critical symptoms would be prioritized in the expanded mass testing.

Mendoza said that as front liners health workers should be checked regularly and must be coronavirus free since they are the ones taking care of patients.

“We are very much worried and alarmed about the health condition of our fellow heath workers. Mostly, those health workers who died were infected due to lack of personal protective equipment, aggravated by 12 hours duty a day for 7 to 8 days,” Mendoza said.

AHW photo

“The government must immediately distribute PPE to ensure and protect health workers, hire and train more additional permanent health workers, and increase the public hospital budget,” he added.

Mendoza also urges DOH to immediately issue directives to conduct free mandatory mass testing among hospital workers in public and private hospitals and health facilities to help contain the spread of the virus as well as immediately implement medical interventions.

AHW also asked the government to implement mass testing at the barangay level and provide proper orientation and protective gear to all barangay health workers (BHW) accompanied by a nurse to do the house to house inspection to ensure that all COVID-19 patients will be traced and treated.

DOH reported that there are 766 health workers who tested positive, 339 of whom are doctors while 342 are nurses.

Twenty two health workers have succumbed to the disease.

The Philippines has recorded 5878 cases of the coronavirus disease, 387 of which resulted in deaths, giving the country the worst record in Southeast Asia and the highest percentage of health worker fatalities in the world. #