The
Department of Health is the Philippines’ principal health agency. It is the
lead authority in ensuring that the public has access to health services
through quality health provisions and the regulation of goods and services. The
main mission of the department is to guarantee equitable, sustainable and
quality health for all Filipinos, especially the poor, and to lead the quest
for excellence in health. It envisions by 2030 to become a global leader for
attaining better health outcomes, competitive and responsive health care
system, and equitable health financing. The current DOH secretary is Janette
Garin.
Since taking
care of the health of almost 92 million Filipinos is a difficult job, DOH has
several other agencies under it that focuses on more specific health areas. It
has eight bureaus including the Bureau of Health Devices and Technology, Bureau
of Health Facilities and Services, Bureau of International Health Cooperation, Bureau
of Local Health Development, Bureau of Quarantine and International Health
Surveillance, Food and Drug Administration, Health Human Resources Development
Bureau, and Health Policy Development and Planning Bureau.
In the
proposed budget allocation of the Malacanang in the 2014 State of the Nation
Address, the Department of Health has received a thicker slice of 21.2 million
pesos, a 45.5% increase from 2013. It is big leap and is a considerable high
amount to maintain the operations of public health clinics and hospitals, the
agencies under DOH, and its local health programs.
It is a breather that the government is providing reinforcement laws to aid the Department of Health in making their vision attainable. This includes Republic Acts on providing health insurance, compulsory basic immunization for infants and children, and cheaper medicine. But despite the increased budget allotment for health, and the governments’ effort to withhold the country’s health standards, the Department of Health still faces different adversaries.
It is a breather that the government is providing reinforcement laws to aid the Department of Health in making their vision attainable. This includes Republic Acts on providing health insurance, compulsory basic immunization for infants and children, and cheaper medicine. But despite the increased budget allotment for health, and the governments’ effort to withhold the country’s health standards, the Department of Health still faces different adversaries.
The ratio of
physicians and hospitals is not proportional to the total population. Health
care personnel and facilities, if there are any, are mostly concentrated in the
urban areas which makes it difficult for those who are in farther provinces to
get medical attention, some of them solely relying on volunteer workers. Students
after graduating from any nursing, medical, or pharmacy schools in thePhilippines are dissuaded by the salary that is waiting for them in the field
and would rather work as caregivers abroad. Corruption in the government is
also an issue even in the other government agencies.
But
government is not turning a blind eye on these issues. As a matter of fact,
there are many discussions going on about increasing the salaries of nurses and
public health workers in the Philippines. We are also exploring the
possibilities of Private-Public Partnership to gain access on facilities that
the private business sector can offer. And the proof that the economy is
thriving well could only mean that the budget for health will increase in the years
to come.
For
a country that has been labeled as third-world ever since, it might be
disheartening to see how limited the things that we can procure in a period of
time are. Our progress might be slow, but we are getting there. Let’s just hope
that we make it in time.
