Saturday, December 20, 2008 Creation of health fund okayed By Dexter A. See
THE Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC) is supporting the immediate passage of House Bill 3925, which aims to create a special health fund to be constituted from the net income of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
The RDC cited there is a need to establish a stable f and adequate funding support to ensure the continuous delivery of quality health services that would benefit the poorest of the poor in various parts of the country.
It said the fund would help in the smooth delivery of basic health services to the poor people even in the remote communities of the country.
According to the RDC, the proposed bill authored by Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez to create a special health fund would also ensure that timely and sufficient funds will be available and accessible for health care services especially for the use of poor and marginalized sectors.
The Cordillera is one of the least developed and least adequately served regions of the country, especially in terms of health care services.
The RDC cited the difficult topography, limited infrastructure, restricted mobility, and concentration of the better health care facilities in this mountain resort city prevent the majority of people from the rural areas from accessing quality health services.
The Local Government Code, otherwise known as the Devolution Act of 1991, transferred the responsibility for the operation and management of health services to local government units (LGUs) that are almost totally dependent on their Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) for their operations.
But the IRA is insufficient to finance all the activities related to public health as well as the operation of hospitals, thus LGUs, especially the fourth to sixth-class towns, have difficulties in satisfying the delivery of basic health services to their constituents.
The RDC pointed out the fiscal position of LGUs have greatly affected the delivery of health services and the concerned local officials have to source funds from the National Government agencies, non-government organizations (NGOs) and Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to make available basic health services.
The Center for Health Development (CHD) in Northern Mindanao has been soliciting the support of various health agencies nationwide to support the passage of the legislative measure to ensure sufficient funds for basic health services in the future.
Pagcor and PCSO are among the top grosser from the different revenue-generating agencies because of their huge income from lottery games and casino operations and part of their income is devoted in providing health assistance to people from all walks of life that need medical attention because of their illnesses.
