Jinggoy: More than paid leaves, give full aid to ill workers
MORE than the benefits they deserve under the law, workers infected with COVID-19 should get government assistance to nurse them to full recovery since they are vital in the country’s post-Covid economic rebound, former Senator Jinggoy Estrada said on January19, 2022.
While commending the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for issuing Labor Advisory 1 on Monday that urged private sector employers to come up with an appropriate paid isolation and quarantine leave program for Covid-hit workers, the senatorial candidate said workers should have assistance in availing of hospital and healthcare services.
In the advisory, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III asked employers to also allow employees who are classified as close contact, suspect, probable, or confirmed case of Covid-19 to complete home isolation or facility-based quarantine.
Estrada said as senator, he would also seek a 20 percent discount on the costs of medicine for government employees.
He said that his proposed “lockdown ayuda” that will institutionalize subsidies will carry provisions specifically to aid workers who are afflicted with contagious diseases.
“Covid will become endemic and a law must provide automatic appropriation for aid to those who are in great need of assistance,” Estrada said.
Likewise, the former Senate President Pro Tempore said he will pursue the “Health Services Control Act” which he previously filed that seeks to ensure affordable health care costs primarily in tertiary and specialized hospitals.
