Guv receives Galing Likha-Kalusugan award

LEYTE Governor Jericho Petilla recently received the Galing Likha Kalusugan (GLK) award conferred by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) for his innovative setup of Mother Bles Birthing Clinics in the province and other parts of the country.

The GLK award is a distinction given to public and private organizations that best exemplify the highest level of innovation in the country’s health marketplace.

The governor received the award recently during a ceremony held at the Hotel Intercontinental in Makati City from top health experts in the country led by Dr. Eduardo Banzon, president and chief executive officer of PhilHealth.

Mother Bles Birthing Clinics (MBBC) are networks of PhilHealth-accredited birthing health facility that started in Leyte province. The program, done in partnership with Kakak Foundation, aims to provide poor pregnant women with accessible and affordable maternal and infant health care services.

Ninety-five percent of clients of MBBC are PhilHealth indigent members, and the remaining five percent are either non-PhilHealth or paying clients.

The business model of Mother Bles Clinics harnesses the comparative advantages of the following sectors through private-public partnership: KaKaK Foundation Inc., private practicing midwives, municipal and provincial government.

This is the second time that PIDS hosted such recognition rites in celebration of Filipino ingenuity and inventiveness in the healthcare sector.

Together with the Mother Bless Clinic program, also awarded were the Surveillance in Post Extreme Emergencies and Disasters (Speed) and PhilHealth Link.

PhilHealth Link is a call center for PHilHealth members, a collaborative enterprise supported by provincial local government units (LGUs) that want to maximize reimbursement from PhilHealth so that LGU health facilities can have a steady revenue stream. This project was launched by PhilHealth-Eastern Visayas in 2010.

Galing Likha-Kalusugan pays tribute to the best health market innovations in the Philippines, an initiative started in 2010 to scour the entire country for creative and fresh approaches to health service delivery as it stresses the importance of Public-Private Partnership in the provision of accessible, efficient, cost-beneficial healthcare programs in the country. (Leyte Samar Daily Express)