DOH Statement | 19 March 2024

The Department of Health as of today has released a total of PhP 76.1 billion for the payment of the health emergency allowance (HEA, per Republic Act No. 11712) of eligible public and private health workers. This is to pay for 8,549,207 claims, covering the period July 1, 2021 to July 20, 2023.

For Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, the General Appropriations Act gave only PhP 19.9 billion for HEA under programmed appropriations. DOH has already released PhP 19.7 billion (99%) of this amount to all eligible health facilities. The DOH still requires an estimated PhP 27 billion to pay for arrears filed by the health facilities.

The DOH through its Centers for Health Development in the regions has been working with private and local government unit (LGU)-owned hospitals and health facilities. The law requires DOH to have Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs) and to wait for full liquidation by these LGU and private hospitals of HEA funds already paid, before subsequent releases of additional funds. The Department has a list of these hospitals and health facilities with outstanding liquidation requirements.

We continue to work hand-in-hand with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to grant HEA to all eligible health workers. We are ready to release the funds as soon as the concerned private and LGU hospitals will comply with the law that requires liquidation.