Additional hazard pay for health workers OK’d

MANILA, Philippines - Government nurses and other health workers are finally getting additional hazard pay after Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial signed yesterday  the order granting the raise.

Ubial said the increase in hazard pay ranges from five percent to 20 percent, depending on the salary grade of the health workers.

Those with higher salaries will be allocated five percent hazard pay, while those with lower salaries shall get the maximum hazard pay of 20 percent, she added.

Ubial said health workers deserve additional pay considering that they usually put their lives at risk when performing their jobs during outbreaks.

“In an outbreak in the country, the health workers will run towards the outbreak and will not run away from it. So we should give premium to the nature of the work of health workers that are constantly at risk,” she said.

The Department of Health is set to review the standard salary scale of all public health workers, she added.

Ubial said she will look into ways on how to provide higher compensation for health workers assigned in “difficult areas.”

“I believe it is how it should be: equal work for equal pay. If you have more patients, you should have more compensation,” she said.

“If they are assigned in conflict areas or geographically isolated areas, you should have bigger salaries. We are now looking at that.”

Ubial said health workers in hospitals with a 1:8 nurse-to-patient ratio must receive less than those deployed in hospitals with nurse-to-patient ratio of 1:20. She proposed that health workers deployed in far-flung areas should get more than those serving in hospitals in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, or Metro Davao.