DAVAO CITY — Mayor Sara Z. Duterte will be giving her one-year salary to the health workers of Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) who were infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) while on duty.
Duterte said in interview over 87.5 Davao City Disaster Radio on Tuesday night that she will put her annual salary amounting to P2.1 million to a trust fund to help the infected health workers of the said government hospital.
The mayor said she came with the decision after learning from SPMC chief of hospitals, Dr. Leopoldo Vega, that 12 of its 300 medical workers tested positive for Covid-19.
Duterte said she felt accountable for the frontliners since she is the one who asked the Department of Health to designate SPMC as the only hospital who would admit Covid-19 patients in the city.
“I felt somehow nga involved ko because ako tong nagsulti sa Department of Health nga gamiton nato ang SPMC. Pagkabasa nako sa announcement ni Dr. Vega nga 12 kabuok, nagsakit akoang dughan. So naghuna-huna ko what I can do para sa ilaha ( Somehow, I felt involved in this situation since I was the one who asked the Department of Health to use SPMC as the only Covid-19 in the city. When I read the announcement of Dr. Vega that there are 12 health workers, I was really heartbroken. So, I decided to do this for them),” she said.
The mayor said she will give P50,000 to each of the SPMC frontliner who tested positive for the coronavirus.
“Kabalo ko nga dili mabayran ang ilahang kakulba, ilahang hadlok, ilahang hago, ang inconvenience. But at least man lang they have money to buy things that would make them feel better (I know that their worries, fear and inconvenience cannot be compensated in any way but at least they have money to buy things that would make them feel better),” she said.
Duterte said she was somehow relieved after learning that 11 of the frontliners have been discharged from the hospital.
She said their medical and treatment expenses are being taken cared of by the city government. (Armando B. Fenequito Jr.)