MAY 24, 2015

NR # 3841B

Grant of additional incentives and benefits for rural doctors pushed

A lawmaker has filed a measure granting additional incentives and benefits to rural
doctors.
Rep. Rolando G. Andaya, Jr. (1st District, Camarines Sur) said under House Bill
5725, rural doctors, in addition to other incentive granted under existing laws, shall be
entitled to hazard allowance in an amount to be determined by the local health board of
the local government unit (LGU) concerned.
They shall also be entitled to subsistence allowance which is equivalent to the meals
they take in the course of their duty which shall be computed in accordance with
prevailing circumstances as determined by the LGU concerned, Andaya said.
Andaya added that rural relocation incentive should likewise be granted to doctors
who are not original residents of the rural or remote area community, which they serve, in
an amount to be determined by the local health board.
Rural doctors shall also be granted continuing medical education in the form of
tuition fee subsidy and stipends as well as isolation travel assistance for visiting
physicians to provide medical services in eligible rural areas and isolated communities to
be determined by the local health board, Andaya said.
The grant of these financial incentives and benefits will attract, recruit and retain
rural physicians across the country and make serving as a healthcare professional in the
areas attractive and motivating, according to Andaya.
In pushing for the bill, Andaya said the lack of attractive financial incentive has
discouraged many doctors from working in rural communities.
This, Andaya said, has resulted in the unequal distribution of health workforce,
especially of doctors in the country.
The Bicolano solon said based on the study, Assessment of factors influencing
retention in the Philippine National Rural Physician Development Program, only 10
percent of health professionals in the country are found in rural communities where more
than majority of the people resides.
Most physicians and other health works prefer to stay in urbanized areas where
they can be given better compensation, he said.
Andaya recalled that the program Doctors to the Barrios (DTBP) was launched by

then Health Secretary Juan Flavier in 1993 as a respond to the perceived shortage of
health personnel in remote areas.
The program encouraged medical graduates to spend a couple of years of their
professional practice in some of the countrys poorest communities where healthcare
services are most needed, Andaya said.
He added that after the prescribed period of two years, the doctors are given the
option to be absorbed by the LGUs.
Very few however chose to remain working in the rural areas due to lack of
attractive financial incentives and because of poorly resourced facilities, Andaya
elaborated.
He said the recipient LGUs have failed to hire their own doctors and relied on the
program for the provision of community physicians.
As observed by the Department of Health (DOH), most LGUs were unable to
match the compensation package offered by the DOH, thus very few DTBP doctors
decided to stay with the community, Andaya explained. (30) mvip