DOH working on projects to address WHO concern
The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday, April 11, said it is working on various projects to address the concern of the World Health Organization (WHO)Western Pacific Region about the lack of access to essential health services in the region.
“Sa Philippines, ang most common lacking areas are what we call the GIDAS (In the Philippines, the most common lacking areas are what we call GIDAS [Geographically Isolated and disadvantaged areas]),” DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa said in a media forum at the Health Emergency Management Bureau Office in Manila.
Herbosa noted that the agency is now working on various projects such as the Doctor to the Barrios (DTTB) program where the DOH is trying to fill up all municipalities with medical practitioners whom they are compensating.
Among these initiatives is the Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Service (BUCAS), DOH’S effort to establish new facilities as well as the agency’s initiative to increase the benefit packages of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Phihealth).
“So natutugunan natin ito sa pamamagitan ng several programs that we address (So we address this through several programs that we implement),” Herbosa said.
In a press briefing on April 5, the Whowestern Pacific Region raised concerns over the lack of access of people in the region to essential health services.
The WHO said that two out of five people living in the Western Pacific still lack access to essential health services.
“That is 782 million of the 1.9 billion people in our region. That shouldn’t be the case,” Who-western Pacific Region Director Dr. Saia Ma’u Piukala said.
The Who-western Pacific Region said that one in five people in the region is spending 10 percent or more of their income on out-of-pocket health expenses.
“This is considered catastrophic health care spending and it has particularly severe consequences for the most vulnerable,” Piukala said.