PROMDI presidential aspirant Sen. Manny Pacquiao wants government to enjoin private hospital to properly compensate health care workers employed by them.

Pacquiao aired the appeal as he vowed to pursue sweeping reforms in the country’s health care system should he win the presidency.

Pacquiao said many private hospitals and health care facilities are now understaffed or are manned by inexperienced personnel because of bad management and unfair labor practices.

He lamented that low salaries and poor relations with hospital workers continue notwithstanding the renewed threat of COVID-19 not only to patients but to the health care workers as well.

“We are losing a lot of good doctors, nurses and other medical professionals because they are not properly compensated,” Pacquiao said.

The senator called on thethe Department of Health (DoH), the Department of Labor Employment (DOLE), and the Department of Justice (DoJ) to work together to check on the welfare of medical frontliners in the private sector.

He said the management of private hospitals and other medical facilities including those providing diagnostic tests who continuously refuse to provide their workers with their rightful compensation as provided by law should be prosecuted.

Likewise, Pacquiao stressed that the government should also address the complaints of many private hospitals in relation to the sluggish processing of their claims from Philhealth. He said that private hospitals are already under a lot of financial distress because many of their patients rely on Philhealth to cover expenses for their treatment.

Pacquiao said that if elected as president, he would work for an across-the-board increase on the minimum wage of health care professionals. He said that Filipino nurses should have at least a minimum salary of P50,000 a month inclusive of taxes, on top of other compensation such as Hazard pay and overtime.