This month of August has seen
President Rodrigo Duterte in a flurry of using his powers as chief executive of
the national government by signing into law a sizeable number of notable
legislation from Congress. One of these lucky bills is the Universal Healthcare
(UHC) Act or the country’s own take on similar legislation from the US during
the Obama administration. Optimally the provisions of the new UHC law, enacted
this past February, would take place in its entirety next year. Unfortunately,
the implementing arm of universal healthcare, the Department of Health (DOH), is
insisting that funding for the law is not enough to go ahead with a full
rollout.
CNN Philippines reports that the Department of Health is not
confident that the Universal Healthcare law will be ready to go into full
implementation across the country anytime in the year 2020. In a statement
given this Wednesday, August 28, Health Secretary Francisco Duque remarked that
the earmarked P160.5 billion out of the national budget for next year is insufficient
for the needs of a nationwide coverage for UHC. Duque adds that the readiness
of the local government to work with national agencies to put the law into
action is not quite there just yet.
In place of an unwieldy national
implementation, the DOH has proposed that if universal healthcare must be rolled
out next year, it can be done in a limited scale at only several key areas of
the Philippines. DOH Undersecretary Gerardo Baguyo says the Department has
selected 33 provinces and major cities that have ready local governments for
UHC, as proposed by regional DOH directors. Baguyo stresses that no politicians
had input in selecting the initial rollout areas for universal healthcare. The key
provinces that have expressed readiness for UHC implementation indicated so by
presenting a letter of intent from their respective governors plus a resolution
from their respective provincial councils.
Provinces slated for initial
universal healthcare implementation are: Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Bataan,
Tarlac, Batangas, Quezon province, Oriental Mindoro, Masbate, Sorsogon, Aklan, Antique,
Guimaras, Iloilo, Cebu, Biliran, all of Leyte and Samar, Zamboanga del Norte, Misamis
Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, Sarangani, South Cotobato, Agusan
del sur, Agusan del Norte, and Maguindanao. Cities designated as UHC-ready are Valenzuela
City, Paranaque City, Dagupan City, Baguio City, and Cagayan de Oro. Secretary
Francisco Duque has refuted accusations in Congress of favoritism by the DOH,
saying that the areas not yet covered by UHC as of next year can still avail of
any existing subsidized healthcare services.
0 comments:
Post a Comment