Nurses in Covid hospitals get aid from charitable foundations

CEBU CITY – A group of private charitable foundations turned over the first tranche of salary and bonus assistance to nurses who are serving in Covid-19 hospitals in Cebu as part of its “Project Balik Buhay’s Salary and Bonus Assistance for our Bidas” (PBB-SalBaBida) program.

The Cristina Lee Dino Foundation, SM Foundation, Inc., BDO Foundation, LH Foundation Inc., PLDT-Smart Foundation, Juanito I. King Foundation, Inc., Visayan Electric Co., Cebu Landmasters, Inc., Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Century Pacific Group Rspo Foundation Inc. pooled their resources to be able to help the nurses who are at the frontline of the government’s Covid-19 response in this time of the health crisis.

The foundations released the first monthly allowance of P15,000 to each of the nurses, according to Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino. He said the stipend for the nurses was borne out of the generosity of various private foundations.

“These foundations are headed by big businessmen who are working together to help the government address the impact of the pandemic to the local economy of Cebu. They want to help in the fight against Covid-19 by helping hospitals acquire personnel to man their ICUs and Covid-19 beds,” he told the Philippine News Agency.

The program was launched last July to encourage nurses to continue serving the frontline facilities. The nurses were deployed to private hospitals in August at the height of the Covid-19 surge in Cebu which overwhelmed the healthcare system and affected the critical care utilization rate of medical facilities due to lack of personnel.

Among the hospitals that benefited from the deployment of the nurses were Chong Hua Hospital-Fuente, Chong Hua Hospital-Mandaue, Cebu Doctors’ University Hospital Group, Perpetual Succor Hospital, ARC Hospital, and Cebu Velez General Hospital. And the Adventist Hospital Cebu, Southwestern University Medical Center, St. Vincent General Hospital, Maayo Well Cebu and Visayas Community Medical Center.

“The fight against the Covid-19 virus continues and it is our collective appeal for all Cebuanos to each do our part by strictly observing the proper health protocols and helping protect each other, as we move forward in our shared mission of saving lives and restoring livelihoods,” Dino said as he thanked the medical workers for their dedication in fighting Covid-19 and the foundations for their assistance. (John Rey Saavedra and Carlo Lorenciana)