Health care professionals in Cebu City private hospitals need assistance, says Cimatu

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said that the health care professionals in private hospitals here desperately need assistance.

Cimatu, the Interagency Task Force (IATF) overseer in Cebu, said on Tuesday, July 7, 2020, that he checked on at least nine private hospitals in Cebu City to appraise the status of these hospitals on bed capacity dedicated for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and the morale of the health care workers.

He found out that there are still 569 beds and 77 available Intensive Care Unit (ICU) slots dedicated for COVID-19 patients in all nine private hospitals.

This means that private hospitals can accommodate 646 COVID-19 patients as of July 7, 2020, thus reducing the critical utilization rates of the medical facilities in the city.

This was good news for Cimatu as more available beds mean the hospitals are not yet overwhelmed.

But the health care professionals working in these private hospitals might be the ones who may need help.

The secretary found out that while government nurse earn a basic salary of 28,000 per month, the private sector counterpart only earns P15,000 per month.

This huge discrepancy, coupled with the additional workload due to COVID-19, has caused low morale among private-sector health workers.

This is why Cimatu is asking the city government to support these health workers from private hospitals through financial aid and personal protective equipment (PPEs).

“Sobrang low morale ng ating mga workers, kaya nagpapasalamat ako sa Cebu City kasi Mayor Edgardo Labella announced they will provide P10,000 financial assistance per month sa mga health workers natin sa private hospitals,” said Cimatu.

(Our health workers have a low morale, that is why I am thankful for Cebu City as Mayor Edgardo Labella announced they will provide P10,000 financial assistance per month sa mga health workers natin sa private hospitals.)

Read: Cebu City mulls P10K incentive for medical augmentation force

Labella said the city has decided to help the health workers because of their huge role during the pandemic. The P10,000 assistance per month would allow the private health workers to receive P25,000 per month, almost similar to the salary of a government health worker.

The mayor said the city is now working on how to release the said cash assistance to the doctors, medical interns, nurses, medical technologists, radio technologists, and others.

Cimatu emphasized the importance of the role of health care workers in the pandemic as they are the last line of defense against the COVID-19. A patient’s life is under their hands and they should be appreciated.

He urged the city to support them by providing more PPE supplies as well. /bmjo