WITH a meager national health budget appropriated for next year, a national organization of health professionals and health workers is saying that it seems President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appears keener in killing than saving Filipinos.

The Health Alliance for Democracy (Head) is lamenting the National Government’s preference for spending more on its security forces than for the health of its constituents.

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Dr. Gene Nisperos, Head national vice chair, said by the Department of Health’s (DOH) own admission, health per capita allocation is only P252.49 for every Filipino each year.

“This means only P0.70 is allocated for every Filipino per day, an amount much less than what government is allocated for every bullet a standard M16 assault rifle used by the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” explained Nisperos.

The proposed national budget for 2010 is P1.541 trillion and the budget allocation for health is P33.678 billion or 2.2 percent of the national budget. The Department of National Defense (DND) is allocated with at least P73.6 billion; this is more than twice the DOH budget.

However, DND Secretary and administration’s standard bearer for 2010 election Gilbert Teodoro defended the proposed allocation for his department in the House of Representatives, Thursday saying the proposed budget was “only sufficient to maintain current capabilities and to continue implementation of some defense programs.”

Last Thursday, the DND has proposed P57.694 billion budget for 2010. Teodoro told congressmen that P41.41 billion of this will be allocated for personnel services and P16.27 billion for maintenance and other operating expenses.

If anything, Teodoro told solons the proposed budget for next year could not cover funds for “unforeseen circumstances” or “unintended consequences of security conflicts in several areas.”

Even though DND 2010 budget, as presented by Teodoro in the Lower House, is slightly smaller than their estimate, Nisperos rebutted DND still belongs to the top 10 departments that will get large chunks in the 2010 national budget.

He pointed out that throughout the last eight years of the Arroyo administration, DND has consistently been appropriated 5 percent in the national budget. A stark comparison, he added to the 1.8 percent average allocated to the DOH.

Head reiterates that government spending on health has consistently decreased conversely the DND budget has consistently increased.

“The DOH budget for 2010 may appear bigger than their budget for this year but if you consider inflation and the purchasing index of the peso, its real value is only P22.715 billion. This is much less than DOH’s budget this year of P23.666 billion,” said Nisperos.

This means, he added, that while the DND budget will increase by P8.6 billion next year, the DOH budget will actually decrease by P951 million.

“While doctors and health workers struggle every day to save the life of poor Filipinos, the Arroyo government is spending more to find new and creative ways of killing them.” Nisperos said.

“The preferential treatment given to the AFP in particular and the state security forces in general belie any claim by the Arroyo regime that it is upholding the health and life of Filipinos,” he added.