The Antique Provincial Board on Monday approved an ordinance for the retention of the Barangay Health Workers (BHWs) amid the election of the new set of barangay officials.

Board Member Egio Elio, who is the author and sponsor of the ordinance entitled “An Ordinance prescribing guidelines for the retention and continued service of the BHWs in the Province of Antique”, said in an interview on Monday that “the ordinance is timely since we had just had our BSKE (Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections) and there is a new set of barangay officials,” he said.

Elio noted that there are BHWs, who despite their voluntary work in rendering primary healthcare services in their assigned communities, are being replaced especially when the barangay officials do not like them.

He said that replacing the BHWs is disadvantageous to the communities because they have already been trained to render primary health care services.

“The BHWs have already been trained on how to get even just the pulse rate and body temperature of the patients in their communities that they should be retained,” he said.

Elio said that having new BHWs would again entail another training and utilization of the resources of the barangays.

He said the BHWs should have to be retained unless their performance is unsatisfactory based on the deliberation of the local health boards (LHBs).

“All LHBs of the municipal governments are endeavored to create a BHW Registration and Accreditation Committee (RAC) to facilitate the registration and accreditation of BHWs,” he said.

Elio said that the BHW-RAC will facilitate the registration and accreditation of the BHWs for them to be entitled to benefits and incentives with the LHB in which they render services.

He also said that the ordinance provides for the LHB, through their municipal health office, to formulate and implement policies, programs and specific strategies that shall afford protection to the BHWs, including but not limited to the criteria/process for discontinuation of services and in cases of complaints and grievances.

In the province of Antique, there are more than 1,000 BHWs who render voluntary work with the barangays with allowances of PHP500 to PHP2,000 per month depending on their internal revenue allocation (IRA).

Melanie Raymaro, who is the president of the Sibalom BHW Association with around 100 BHW members, said in a separate interview that the ordinance can greatly help them ensure their retention.

“The ordinance would reinforce the Republic Act Number 7883 or the BHWs Benefits and Incentives Act of 1995 to protect our interest and provide us support for our continued service,” she said.

Aside from their allowance from the barangay, Raymaro said they are also receiving PHP1,000 per month from the Antique provincial government which is being released every December as a Christmas gift in recognition of their services. (PNA)