Gov’t to set aside P9 billion to deploy 13,000 health workers

Rep. Johnny Pimentel (Photo from his Facebook account)

MANILA, Philippines — The government will allocate P9 billion for the deployment of more than 13,000 health professionals to “underserved communities” in 2019, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel said Sunday.

In a statement, Pimentel said that the Department of Health (DOH) would enlist 9,138 nurses, 3,650 midwives, 243 physicians and 241 dentists to provide additional medical services in rural areas.

“The deployment is expected to proceed even in an extreme scenario wherein the government operates on a re-enacted spending program until February next year,” he said.

Pimentel is a member of the appropriations committee of the House of Representatives.

According to the lawmaker, P7.8 billion out of the P9 billion for the Human Resources for Health Deployment Program is lodged in the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefits Fund, while the rest of the allocation worth P1.2 billion is with the DOH.

Pimentel said that, in order to augment the regular health staff, the DOH contracted extra health professionals ever year to serve under regular programs.

These programs include the Doctors to the Barrios (DTTB), Medical Pool Placement and Utilization Program (MP-PUP), Registered Nurses for Health Enhancement and Local Service (RN Heals), Rural Health Midwives Program (RHMP), and Rural Health Team Placement Program (RHTPP).

“We would urge qualified health professionals looking for gainful employment to sign up, so they can help underserved communities while getting paid well,” Pimentel said.

The lawmaker added that the “acquired training from the service would also help qualified professionals land even better jobs elsewhere later on.”