Healthy citizens, happy citizens
IN my previous column, I discussed the Yellow Card program, Makati’s trailblazing health program that provides accessible hospitalization for the citizens of Makati.
But health care is not just hospital care. The approach to health care must be holistic. A government must help its citizens become healthy and stay healthy, from infants to senior citizens. Healthy citizens are empowered and productive citizens. And should they become ill, government must provide them accessible, affordable and quality care.
Makati’s budget allocation for health has grown at an average of 9.3 percent. This year, the city government alloted 14.4 billion for its health programs and services.
One of the first programs I initiated was a nutrition program for children. Makati’s children are our richest human resources and their health should always be a priority.
The program includes regular monitoring of a child’s weight, nutrition education, free vitamins and supplements, feeding, and emergency food assistance to families with underweight children.
Complemented by our communitybased breastfeeding advocacy, Makati has successfully reduced its malnutrition prevalence rate over the years. From 7.7 percent in 1990, it has gone down to 0.48 percent todate.
In 2005, we also launched our community-based breastfeeding advocacy in support of the Infant and Young Child Feeding program of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the nationwide campaign to promote the Philippines as a “Mother and Baby-Friendly Country.”
Makati became the country’s pioneer in promoting breastfeeding when it launched the pilot program in Barangay Pembo. The program has since been replicated in 24 other barangays, with volunteers providing peer counselling to expectant and new mothers.
As an offshoot of the program, Makati established the country’s first community-based Human Milk Bank in 2013. Located at the 4th floor of the Bangkal Health Center, the milk bank is equipped with a human milk pasteurizer imported from England, and is manned by qualified medical professionals trained by the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, a DOH-accredited training provider.
Thousands of milliliters of breastmilk collected from breastfeeding donors have been pasteurized in the milk bank, benefiting not only infants at Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) and other private hospitals but also infants and toddlers in calamity-stricken localities. These included victims of super-typhoon Yolanda in the Visayas and the earthquake in Bohol.
In 2006, recognizing the importance of early detection of any potential disability that could impede the normal growth and development of a child, Makati introduced the Newborn Screening Program. The success rate of the program has been pegged at a high 95 percent.
Makati is also implementing an Expanded Immunization Program, providing children free immunization for seven common childhood diseases: measles, polio, diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B, and tuberculosis for newborns and babies up to 48 months.
In addition, children aged six months to five years are given free dental immunization through the application of fluoride varnish on newly erupted teeth to prevent tooth decay and ensure healthier growth of permanent teeth.
Beyond addressing maternal and child care, Makati has also pioneered in developing programs that address health issues faced by citizens of developed urban centers – the care of its senior citizens and lifestyle diseases.
For our senior citizens, Makati’s mobile hospice program deploys daily at least two ambulance teams, each composed of at least one doctor and two nurses, to conduct home visits to bedridden elderlies and Makatizens aged 70 years and older. The teams also bring with them free medicines and provide mobile laboratory services. When needed, the teams transport the seniors to hospitals or hospices.
Moreover, the barangay health centers devote Fridays as Senior Citizens Day. At the Ospital ng Makati, senior citizens are also treated with utmost priority in all departments.
In 2004, Makati also moved to address one of the growing causes of death among adults. The Heart Care Program assists in lifestyle modifications, early detection, proper nutrition, exercise, and smoking cessation. Citizens diagnosed with hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes receive a special ID and a patient’s health monitoring booklet. The booklet tracks their treatment, including nutritional counseling sessions, once-a-year laboratory examinations, and once-a-month free blood sugar monitoring and consultation with a specialist. All these services are provided free of charge. The program has run for about eight years with around 5,000 patients enrolled.
To address concerns over the high price of medicines, Makati introduced in 2013 its “Libreng Gamot para sa Mamamayan” Program. Yellow Card members are provided with free medicines for various illnesses, including maintenance drugs for hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardio-vascular diseases, and dyslipidemia.
To date, eight cluster pharmacies serve the needs of over 200,000 enrollees, which include almost 36,000 senior citizens and 150 persons with disability.
In 2006, Makati became the first local government to be officially recognized by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) as the first local government unit to attain universal health insurance coverage for its constituents.
Under the “PhilHealth ng Masa” program, the city government pays for the premiums of indigent residents, including the annual renewal of their membership. With their PhilHealth, around 25,000 Makati residents can avail themselves of services not only at OsMak but in all PhilHealth-accredited hospitals and clinics in the country.
Like our other innovations, Makati’s health services have been recognized here and abroad. Makati’s heath indicators offer proof that these programs work: in 2016, Infant Mortality Rate was 15.62 percent; Child Mortality, 19.04 percent; and Maternal Mortality, 0.25 percent. They are below the targets set by the DOH and exceeds the Millenium Development Goals:
British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, who is credited for the Public Health Act of 1875, said it best: “The health of the people is really the foundation upon which all their happiness and all their powers as a state depend.”