The Department of the Interior and Local Government in Eastern Visayas (DILG-8) is looking at hiring at least 1,483 contact tracers to assist various local government units in the region.
DILG Regional Director Karl Ceasar Rimando said Tuesday the additional contact tracers would ramp up COVID-19 efforts in areas with the most number of cases.
“They will augment the existing contact tracing teams of LGUs who will provide the first point of contact of a Covid-19 case. They will be conducting interviews, profiling, and perform a public health risk assessment of patients and their identified close contacts,” he added.
Among the minimum qualifications for contact tracers is a bachelor’s degree relevant to the job, preferably on allied medical courses and criminology.
Applicants should also have skills in data gathering, research, and documentation, and conducting interviews and health assessments. A contact tracer must also have the ability to advocate public health education messages, and must have the investigative capability, Rimando said.
Meanwhile, background training and eligibility are not required.
Those interested could submit their application letter addressed to the regional director, personal data sheet, National Bureau of Investigation Clearance, and drug test result to dilg8personnel.rsp@gmail.com.
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Contact tracers would receive a gross monthly salary of PHP18,784, Rimando said.
DILG Eastern Visayas said that the hiring of new contact tracers is covered by the Bayanihan to Recover As one Act or Bayanihan 2 law.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año earlier said the government already hired over 238,000 contact tracers but still needs 50,000 more to help the country fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Año said in an interview on Unang Hirit that the majority of the 238,000 contact tracers are volunteers who are performing duties only in areas they want.
Año said the remaining 50,000 would be deployed in areas where contact tracing is much needed.
The DILG chief said 20,000 contact tracers will be deployed to Luzon; 15,000 to the Visayas; and another 15,000 to Mindanao.
Each province would hire contact tracing personnel, but the deployment would be across a specific region, Año said.