Baguio City Rep. Mark Go is hopeful the bill that aims to raise the minimum salary grade (SG) for medical and health service professionals becomes a law before the 18th Congress ends.
Go said House Bill 8138, which sought to adjust the salary grade of entry-level positions for other medical professionals, is set for deliberations by the House Committee on Health.
“We hope that before the end of the 18th Congress, this will be acted upon and become a law,” he said in a recent media briefing. Go authored House Bill 8138.
He said the proposal sought to correct the “internal equity problem” or the wide disparity of compensation between nurses and other medical and health care professionals, which was created when the SG of entry-level positions for government nurses was adjusted from SG 11 to 15.
Those who will benefit from House Bill 8138 are dentists, medical technologists, pharmacists, occupational and physical therapists, veterinarians, optometrists, nutritionist-dieticians, psychologists, radiologic technologists, respiratory therapists, midwives, and medical laboratory technicians who are working with government hospitals and facilities.
Among other levels, SG 14 will be raised to SG 14, while SG 6 will be raised to SG 8 once the bill becomes a law.
Earlier, Go said he hopes the SG adjustment will uplift the morale of medical and health service professionals and reduce the estimated 17,000 to 22,000 health professionals that leave country annually for higher compensation and better employment opportunities abroad. – Jane B. Cadalig
July 27, 2024
