Department of Health (DOH) has assured nurses and other health workers that their deployment will still go on even on election period once the national budget is signed by the President.
In a statement, the health department addressed the concerns of some health workers waiting for Human Resource for Health (HRH) deployment which was delayed due to pending 2019 budget or the General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Some said that their placement won’t push through anymore, pointing to Comelec Resolution No. 10429, which prohibits the appointment or hiring of new employees, creation or filling up of new positions from March 29, 2019 to May 12, 2019.
“As a matter of urgency, the DOH has already requested COMELEC for an exemption from the election ban policy for our health workers, in case the GAA is signed during the election period,” DOH said.
Undersecretary Roger Tong-an, speaking at the Regional Convention of Philippine Nurses Association (PNA), also clarified the issue in his keynote address.
“If the budget will be approved this coming Monday (April 8), all of the 17,000 of the nurses in the Nurse Deployment Project will be appointed as regular in their position. Ready na po ‘yon, and we are exempted from the Comelec (Commission on Elections) ban,” Tong-an explained.
Also, DOH said that the regional offices will release the list of health workers for deployment so that they will have “certainty and opportunity to make a well-informed decision.”
The regional offices will also ensure efficient processing of hiring and deployment once the GAA is signed.
“We understand the difficulty of the situation and we commit to giving our health workers as much support and assurance. We will get through this together,” DOH concluded.
Based on report by the Senate, P4.797 billion was added to complete the P7 billion requirement for DOH HRH program.