DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III on Tuesday, August 24, 2021, said he has ordered the release of the special risk allowance to the remaining eligible healthcare workers within 10 days.

In a House committee hearing, Duque said the payout will begin on Wednesday, August 25.

He said the Department of Budget and Management had advised that P311 million from the miscellaneous personnel benefit funds will be used for the payment of SRA.

In a statement Tuesday, Duque said the DOH Centers for Health and Development to coordinate with the local government units (LGUs) in submitting the remaining list of healthcare workers eligible for SRA.

“I have also given marching orders to concerned offices to comply with the directives of the President on distributing SRA to our healthcare workers within 10 days,” Duque said in a statement.

“Dapat maibigay ang SRA ng mga healthcare workers natin na hindi pa nakakatanggap nito. Patuloy natin sisiguraduhin na makuha ng ating healthcare workers ang kanilang mga benepisyo na naayon sa ating batas, ” he added.

In June 2021, the DBM said it released the Special Allotment Release Order (Saro) and the Notice of Cash Allocation (NCA) amounting to P9.02 billion to the DOH to cover the payment of the SRA of public and private health workers.

Covered by the funds are SRA not exceeding P5,000 per month from December 20, 2020 to June 30, 2021. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo / SunStar Philippines)