AHW to DOH Secretary Ona: Defend Health Workers Rights and Benefits

Press Statement
November 11, 2012

Reference: Mr. Jossel I. Ebesate
National President
Contact No. 09189276381 

The Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) warily considers the recent assurance of the DOH Secretary Ona, "that by the end of this year, all of these so-called doctorless municipalities will be filled." Wary because, while such move has been long overdue, Ona himself admitted that some of these physicians would serve up to 50,000 population which is more than doubled the WHO prescribed doctor to population ratio of 1:20,000. But we are much more wary on the lack of support by the Department of Health to these municipal doctors.

To recall, sometime ago, a doctor and a graduate of the UP College of Medicine assigned somewhere in Agusan  came in conflict with the local military while in pursuit of his duties and functions. DOH merely reassigned said doctor to the DOH Regional Office without even seeking an investigation to uphold the right of said doctor. This also left the municipality without a doctor for some time.

Just recently, the Department of Health sits idly as personnel of the entire Municipal Health Office of Tarragona, Davao Oriental are being harassed by the local officials led by the Mayor of Tarragona. To date, the Municipal Health Officer is given termination order without due process and the salaries of rural health midwives and other local health workers withheld, also without due process. Unbelievably, the root cause of all these harassment was their petition to the Sangguniang Bayan for the release of their monetary benefits provided under the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers (RA 7305).

We therefore challenge DOH Secretary Ona, to immediately intervene, in behalf of our fellow public health workers in Tarragona, Davao Oriental. We are further challenging him to safeguard the rights of all public health workers in the country, including their monetary benefits as provided by law.#

Position on House Bill 6145 and Other Bills on Corporatization of Public Hospitals

Position Paper (edited) submitted by the Alliance of Health Workers to the Committee on Health, House of Representatives, Philippine Congress upon its invitation for public hearing (eventually postphoned) on September 4, 2012.

September 3, 2012

Reference:

Jossel I. Ebesate, RN

National President

We, the public health workers nationwide, under the Alliance of Health Workers strongly oppose the recent attempts of the government to corporatize public hospitals through House Bill 6145, House Bill 6069 and Senate Bill 3130. These bills are anti-people and anti-health worker thus will worsen the dismal state of people’s health.

The corporatization bill filed by Rep. Raul Daza will transform 26 public hospitals into public corporations run as private hospitals. It is similar to all other previous corporatization bills like HB 6069 filed by Rep. Anthony Rolando Golez, Jr. and Senate Bill 3130 filed by Sen. Franklin Drilon that gives  fiscal autonomy to hospitals to raise income for its operations thereby cutting off its dependence on government subsidy. These hospitals include the DOH flagship hospitals and almost all major public hospitals/medical centers in Manila Manila and regional centers as follows: Cagayan Valley Medical Center, Veterans Regional Hospital, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center, Region I Medical Center, Dr. Paulino J. Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Center, Jose B. Lingad Memorial Medical Center, Batangas Regional Medical, Bicol Medical Center, Bicol Research Training and Teaching Hospital, Quirino Memorial Medical Center, Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center, Rizal Medical Center, Amang Rodriguez Medical Center, San Lazaro Hospital, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center, Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, Western Visayas Medical Center, Northern Mindanao Medical Center, Zamboanga City Medical Center, Southern Philippines Medical Center, Cotabato Regional and Medical Center, CARAGA Regional Hospital, Davao Regional Hospita, and the Mayor Hilarion A. Ramiro, Sr. Regional Training Hospital.

These bills essentially turn public hospital and its services into income generating and for-profit institutions. By opening the management of the public hospitals to private members means that private investors will make sure that there will be a return of investment and profit, and rendering health services will only come second.

Corporatization is not for the benefit of the people. Corporatization of public hospitals will mean no free health services and higher rates of services. This means deprivation of health services to the poor who are majority of the population. It would result to collateral of properties for payment of health services, or becoming chronically ill or dying without seeing a doctor.

The much touted Philhealth, as a safety net to pay for health services, is not the solution. Its coverage is limited to only 23 regular cases and limited number of catastrophic illnesses. Worse, even a liberal appreciation on Philhealth coverage showed that it could only cover for 30%-40% of the total cost of health services of regular members, outside of the Philhealth’s Sponsored Program. Thus, the resulting increase of health services as a result of the corporatization of public hospitals will be felt more by about 60% of our people who are outside of the lowest 20% of our population (covered by the sponsored program) and the richest 20%. This assumption is based on the data of the DOH itself where about 80% of our people relies on public health facilities especially these 26 public hospitas (for tertiary care) that will be corporatized.

Corporatization will not care for the wellbeing of health workers. Just like any private business, corporatization will streamline its expenses. This means security of tenure of health workers is threatened and will be replaced by contractual which is happening now. Salaries and benefits of health workers are being threatened. Down grading of positions, offer of early retirement and streamlining of health workers will soon be a standard procedure.  Doctors to the Barrios Program (where the RN-HEALS program is included) of the Department of Health is a form of contractualization and exploitation on health workers.

Corporatization is privatization. Lundqvist[1] (1991), say that it is sufficient that one of these functions (i.e., the financing, production or regulation) is transferred to private management to say that a privatization has taken place. Considering that the corporatization as designed in HB 6145, HB 6069 and SB 3130 calls for the transfer of health financing and production to the private sector, therefore corporatization is by itself the privatization of the corporatized hospitals. It is relying more to private business to operate the public hospitals, and the government is abandoning its responsibility to provide quality health services to the people as called by the Constitution.  The government is reneging on its responsibility to adequately provide for public hospitals through the shrinking budget allotment.  Providing health services for free is not dole out since people pay their taxes and should be returned to them through the form of services.  If the government could afford to pay hundreds of billion pesos for foreign debts and modernization of the military, why it cannot afford to develop and modernize public hospitals and health facilities that will save millions of lives? 

Corporatization is in fulfillment of the government’s plan to fully remove subsidies to public hospitals’ Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) by the year 2014 and including Personal Services (PS) by 2020 (Pnoy-DOH’s Health Care Financing Strategy 2010-2020).

Our CALLS:

1. Scrap bills that are for corporatization/privatization of public hospitals!
2. Allot 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or the amount of P527B by 2013 to fund for people’s health.  Provide adequate budget allotment for public hospitals to ensure and improve facilities, equipments, supplies and medicines. Fund health workers’ benefits.
3. Stop revenue enhancement schemes in public hospitals!
4. Stop privatization and entry of private business in different departments and functions of public hospitals.
5.  Fill up unfilled plantilla positions and create new plantilla positions to provide for adequate health worker to patient/population ratio. 

[1] Lundqvist, Lennart J. 1991: Dislodging the welfare state? Housing and privatization in four European nations., as cited by Falkenberg, Helena in  “How privatization and corporatization affect healthcare employees’ work

climate, work attitudes and ill-health”, 2010, Stockholm, Sweden.

Hospital “Corpse” bill opposed, brand Ona and Aquino as “Death Salesmen”

The following is the press statement of the Alliance of Health Workers on the occasion of  public hearing called today, September 4, 2012 by the Committee on Health, House of Representatives, Philippine Congress on House Bill 6145 - An act converting the 26 government hospitals (nationwide) into government-owned and controlled corporations.

PRESS RELEASE

September 4, 2012

Reference:Jossel I. Ebesate, RN

AHW National President

Mobile Phone Number: 0918-9276381

Scrap House Bill 6145!  “We, public health workers nationwide together with the people, strongly oppose the recent moves of the government to corporatize the 26 public hospitals through the HouseBill 6145, House Bill 6069 and Senate Bill 3130.  These bills are anti-people and anti-health worker thus will deliver the death sentence to the already dismal state of people’s health”, said Mr. Jossel Ebesate, National President of the Alliance of Health Workers - an organization of health workers mostly working in public hospitals across the country.

Amidst the economic difficulties of the people, combined with rising cost of hospital fees, expensive medicines and spreading diseases like dengue and leptospirosis, the government is hell bent on corporatizing public hospitals. At present fees are charged to the patient for all medical and other supplies used during treatment. Most public hospitals are charging the use of emergency room or require deposit before treatment. Some hospitals reported that their charity beds are being charged now.

Philhealth as advertized by the Department of Health (DOH) is the panacea or the cure-all answer to all of our woes on the lack of government support on hospital and public health services is not enjoyed by the beneficiaries.  Beneficiaries of Philhealth have complained that they have to shell out money to buy medicines and supplies which are not made available in public hospitals. They have still to pay the rest of their hospital bills.

Corporatization will affect the security of tenure and well being of public health workers. At present, unfilled plantilla positions in the hospitals are not being filled up but the government is hiring contractuals. Benefits like hazard pay and other benefits are not funded as provided under Magna Carta of Public Health Workers.

Now, Congress and DOH are determined to pursue the said bills into law to legalize privatization by opening these 26 public hospitals to private investors as business partners and for profit. At the same time, the Aquino government is removing whatever little subsidy left for public hospitals. Concretely, the government delivers income and profit to big foreign and local business and abandoning its responsibility in providing health services to the people in return for the people’s payment of taxes. ###

PNOY’s health report in SONA is of a pathological liar

Alliance of Health Workers

Press Statement

July 25, 2012

References: 

Mr. Jossel I. Ebesate, AHW National President, Mobile no. 09189276381

Bonifacio S. Carmona, Jr.,PHCEA, Mobile no. 09088960094

Alliance of Health Workers members called their president a 'pathological liar' without regard for the welfare of his people following a 36% increase in maternal mortality, and 33,000 public health workers not receiving their benefits. - photo and caption by Sherbien Dacalanio 

Public health workers under the Alliance of Health Workers lambast PNOY’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA) as a litany of half-truths and outright lies. They called the President a sociopath – a pathological liar without regard for the welfare of the Filipino people. He has to flaunt his “accomplishments” to justify his inefficiencies and abdication of his responsibility to the Filipinos.

President Aquino’s report on health is nothing but a futile attempt to justify the effects of his health policies that wrought havoc both on people’s health and the health workers’ welfare. Data show a big increase in maternal mortality rate reaching as much as 36% in 2011. Since January of this year 2012, benefits under RA 7305 (Magna Carta of Public Health Workers) such as Hazard Pay, Subsistence and Laundry Allowances were either totally not given or cut back for more than 33,000 public health workers under the national government.

Inadequate funds in public hospitals have forced hospital management to impose charges even to patients identified as “indigent” which is the practice now at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). Majority of PGH charity patients claim they are not members or dependents of PhilHealth members contrary to the trumpeted increase in PhilHealth membership covering as much as 85% of our population.

In spite of the “no balance billing policy” for PhilHealth members, it is limited only to 23 common cases and 3 catastrophic illnesses and only for sponsored members. What is more palpable is the continued cutback of public funds for government-run health institutions and facilities resulting to more and more out-of-pocket spending by our people for their health care needs. The data therefore that 6 out of 10 Filipinos that died without being attended to by a physician will only get worse with the self-reported hunger increasing with  first quarter 2012 Social Weather survey at record-high 28.8 of families or an estimated 4.8 million families.

In spite of the chronic shortage of health care personnel in our public health care delivery, the government adopts “band-aid” solution such as the RN HEALS Program. This program is just a training program with just P8,000 to P10,000 monthly allowance. This is way below the Php 18,600 for a regular Staff Nurse (Nurse 1) and Php 24,200 for a Public Health Nurse (Nurse II). Their one-year deployment further exploits these nurses.

The deterioration of our in public health care institutions due to budget cuts is the fruit of Aquino’s privatization of health services. This is part of the neo-liberal policies intertwined with liberalization, deregulation and flexibilization of labor. The Aquino government cannot but follow the imposition of the International Financial Institutions namely – the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. These are his real bosses. # 

AGAIN: Fuming Health Workers Doggedly Assail DBM for Non-payment of Benefits

Alliance of Health Workers

PRESS RELEASE

July 10, 2012

References:

Jossel I. Ebesate, National President, Mobile No: 09189276381

Robert T. Mendoza, Secretary General, Mobile No: 09324649757

“Six months have passed and for a number of times we were at the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to demand our hazard pay and other benefits which are rightfully ours,” said Mr. Jossel Ebesate, AHW president. 

More than 29,000 health workers nationwide have not received their hazard pay until today. Worse, DOH issued a Department Memorandum No. 2012-0181 last June 25 stopping the issuance of hazard pay until DBM approves the use of the concerned agency’s savings as per the latter’s guidelines. Said memorandum was made without due consultation with the health workers. 

This is a violation of the Magna Carta of Health Workers (R.A. 7305) and the Joint Resolution # 4. Hazard pay is a recognition of the health workers’ nature of work which exposes them to occupational hazards as stipulated in the said laws.  Every day as the health workers enter the hospital, risks of various types are present.  All hospitals are homes of hazardous and even lethal pathogens that spread over the entire place. Even the patients themselves pose threats to health workers’ lives like the mental patients at the National Center for Mental Health.  

“We health workers are exposed to hazardous workplace. The delay and worse the nonpayment of our hazard pay is government’s neglect of our safety and well-being. We are at the forefront of saving people’s lives but our lives are at the constant threat of the hazards we are exposed to, daily. Hazard pay is recognized by law through RA 7305, and just compensation, which the government failed to pay until this time, as we continuously deliver the much needed health services to the people?” he further stressed.

The health workers are wary at the government’s intent to scrap the Magna Carta benefits as verbalized by DBM representatives in some consultations and meetings. This strengthens even more their resolve to protect their rights in all forms warranted at any given time. “We will stand for our rights and will not give up without a good fight,” Robert Mendoza declared. ###