SECTOR: Social Services
SONA YEAR: 2022
Improve welfare of health care professionals
PROMISE STATUS - DATE: In progress as of 07/17/2023
- The DOH is pushing to standardize the salaries of healthcare workers in the public and private sectors. It calls for the inclusion of private health workers in the coverage of RA 7305, or the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers.
- Five House bills and four Senate bills are seeking to amend RA 7305 by creating a new salary scale and increasing allowances and benefits for government medical professionals such as dentists and midwives. House Bill 3194 proposes a housing program for government nurses.
- Eight bills in the House and three in the Senate push for salary increases for government and private nurses. In particular, HB 4599 seeks a minimum wage of P50,000 per month for both public and private nurses.
- Eight bills in the House and one in the Senate provide for an increase in the salary of government doctors from salary grade 21 (P36,619 to P39,367) to salary grade 22 (P71,511 to P79,349) or salary grade 23 (P80,033 to P89,281). One Senate bill and six counterparts in the House also propose tax incentives for doctors who provide services to poor patients.
- In December 2022, the House passed its version of the “Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers” to professionalize and provide compensation, and benefits for barangay health workers. The Senate is deliberating on six similar measures.