Senators pressed to prioritize passage of charter for barangay health workers
ALAWMAKER on Wednesday urged the Senate to place on its priority list the passage of the proposed Magna Carta of Barangay Health Workers (BHW) to help fill the gap in the delivery of community-based primary health-care services in the country.
Davao City First District Rep. Paolo Duterte issued the call following the thirdreading approval of the House of Representatives of its version of the proposed magna carta for BHWS last week. House Bill (HB) 6557, a consolidation of more than 40 similar measures, was transmitted to the Senate on December 14, 2022.
“There are at least a dozen bills in the Senate proposing a magna carta for barangay health workers that still need to be reconciled and consolidated into a substitute bill. We hope the Senate would be able to prioritize the passage of its counterpart measure of the magna carta when Congress resumes session next month,” Duterte said.
Duterte said that while the Philippines has been adopting the community-based health-care strategy for almost four decades now ,“the key component of this program—the Bhws— have yet to be properly recognized and granted the pay and benefits they deserve.”
Once the magna carta is enacted into law, Duterte said he expects more people to volunteer their services and train as BHWS given the additional compensation and benefits that they will receive under the measure.
Duterte, who has cited the “heroic role” that barangay health workers play as healthcare frontliners, is among the principal authors of the House-approved version of the magna carta for BHWS.
“The measure unanimously approved by the House on third and final reading tasks the Department of Health [DOH] to determine the ideal ratio of BHWS to the number of households. The DOH should also ensure that the total number of BHWS nationwide should not be less than 1 percent of the total population or at least one BHW per 20 households. This ratio should help address the lack of primary health-care services in many communities, especially in remote areas,” Duterte said.