A party-list lawmaker on Friday urged the local health boards to nullify the termination of barangay health workers (BHWs) who were dismissed without due process after the Oct. 30 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE).

BHW party-list Rep. Angelica Natasha Co said the proper petitions and supporting documents are being filed before the local health boards to convince the reinstatement of some 80,000 BHWs.

“What worries us now is many barangays have compromised primary health care frontlines because their newly-elected barangay chairpersons dismissed or terminated the volunteer services of their barangay health workers,” Co said. “These terminated BHWs are healthcare frontliners performing essential services. We will continue our efforts to defend the BHWs and have them reinstated with due process.”

Co noted that the dominant public health woes in the upcoming year will be the lifestyle and seasonal diseases that will come from the El Niño drought and the La Niña that will follow.

“To cope with the El Niño drought, we need an improved Heat Index warning system because the one we have now does not prescribe what local governments, schools, and employers must do depending on the heat index levels. The current system shows only the temperatures and the health symptoms,” Co said.

For the La Niña floods, Co said the problems would be leptospirosis and gastrointestinal illness.

“Basic cleanliness, water safety, and food safety measures are needed to keep barangay residents safe,” she said.

Co said she would work with her colleagues in the Senate to ensure that the Magna Carta of BHWs becomes law as soon as possible.

“This proposed law contains the measures to ensure BHWs’ job security and benefits,” she said.

The House has already approved the priority measure of the Marcos administration on final reading.

Once enacted, accredited BHWs shall be entitled to incentives and benefits that include hazard allowance, transportation allowance, subsistence allowance, one-time retirement cash incentive, health benefits, insurance coverage and benefits, vacation and maternity leaves, and cash gifts. (PNA)