DOH puts up system for better health services
NAT’L STAFF MEETING IN DUMAGUETE
The Department of Health is now processing a system that will ensure better health services for every Filipino, as disclosed during the first national staff meeting held in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental from October 20 to 22, 2016.
Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell Ubial, who presided over the meeting, was joined by DOH regional directors, assistant secretaries, undersecretaries, chiefs of hospitals, doctors, and nurses, among others. She said the system drawn out has been aimed at fulfilling "sustainable development goals (SDGs)," as part of the administration health agenda (AHA).
Ubial said that among the DOH guarantees, for one, is to rid patients from the burden of completing rabies vaccine doses or drugs for tuberculosis, which the local government units must make sure they are available.
To achieve the goals, a seven-point strategy will be put in place such as financial risk protection, better health outcomes and responsive health systems and the values attached to it is efficiency, effectiveness and responsiveness, said Ubial.
The secretary also deemed crucial the matter of defining the entitlements, such as on who shall pay for the services and goods availed of by the patient, how to provide these services for free, and which facilities shall they go to for these.
The DOH would also see if the government has the capacity to provide these to all Filipinos, how many personnel shall be trained, how many facilities need upgrading-such as clinics and diagnostic facilities-and how many barangay health stations to be built for the purpose.
Another area to be defined in the system is on what essential health packages should be laid up for pregnant women so that budget will be guaranteed for the screening of HIV-AIDS and, when positive, provisions of free medicines, such as multi-vitamins, and tetanus toxoids.
Under the guarantee system, the national health insurance shall pay for the delivery expenses be it in the berthing home or in the hospital. If on caesarean procedure, the DOH will identify how much it would cost, and how much will be covered by PhilHealth, even if the patients go to a private clinic.
On the service delivery network implementation, Ubial said the moment a patient comes to a barangay health station and needed a heart surgery, that patient will get it and it will be the health system that will take care of the poor, particularly on transportation service that can be charged to PhilHealth for reimbursement.
The DOH will also guarantee referral for rehabilitation, physical therapy, and occupational therapy for the poorest Filipinos, said Ubial. Another is for a universal health insurance coverage for poor patients, and that PhilHealth is now crafting new packages to actually address their common health needs.
Ubial further said DOH is planning to increase PhilHealth premium collections and payments for government employees, who at present are contributing only 2.5 percent of their salaries with a cap of P35,000. This will be changed to 5 percentwithout cap-meaning that the rich Filipinos would be contributing more to the national health insurance fund. —