CLARK FREEPORT -- Former congressman and Cabinet member Mike Defensor heaped praises to the health program of the province of Pampanga during a forum here at the Bale Balita with Capampangan in Media, Inc. (CAMI) last Friday.
"Pampanga has really a done an excellent job in providing health care to its constituents," Defensor said during the forum where he unveiled his party-list Anakalusugan advocacy on proposed legislative priorities on health issues.
Defensor is a former congressman of Quezon City and a former Cabinet member during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during which he served as head of the Housing and Urban Development Council and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
"Pampanga has provided more health care than what is required or even expected as local government unit," Defensor, whose maternal grandmother was from San Fernando, said.
Pampanga has recently been cited as the 10th richest province in the country and as a role model for good governance and financial stability by the Commission on Audit.
Anakalusugan
Meanwhile, Anakalusugan party list where Defensor is a nominee, along with former Batangas Mayors League President Adorlito Ginete and former Philippine National Railways General Manager Ower Andal, also disclosed of the proposed legislative priorities focusing on health issues.
In morphing into a party-list group, Anakalusugan wanted to bring its advocacy to Congress with the same zeal by pushing for health-focused legislations and serve as the "physician's aide" in looking after the overall health of Filipinos. Running a diagnosis on the country's health concerns, the party-list group proposed a number of Congressional prescriptions, one of which is to strengthen the barangay health system in order to provide greater access to health care to those in the grassroots level.
"One way to do it is to increase the funding for barangay health stations out of the shares of the local government units from their internal revenue allotments. We should also ensure that a station exists in every barangay and is fully equipped," Ginete said.
Another Congressional initiative that Anakalusugan wanted to push for is the expansion of the services covered under the PhilHealth system to include medical checkup and maintenance medicines.
"Let us include diagnostics under the coverage of PhilHealth, even for once a year only. Let us also expand PhilHealth coverage to include maintenance medicines, which can drain the finances of Filipino families," Defensor said. "Many Filipinos die without even seeing a doctor or a physician and without being able to buy their maintenance medicines" he added.
According to Defensor, a yearly average of more than 580,000 Filipinos have died for the past two years, 60 percent of which were never attended to by medical professionals. Heart diseases, cancer and pneumonia were listed as the top causes of these deaths.
The one-time lawmaker said Central Luzon ranked third where the deaths have occurred, with the National Capital region topping the list, and followed by Southern Luzon.
"So we really have to strengthen the program so that every Filipino would have the chance to undergo a medical checkup and meet his requirement for maintenance medicines, both of which should be supported by the government," Defensor said.
The party-list group would also vigorously push for a bigger appropriation for health in the yearly national allocation, including for public hospitals, given the government's notice that the Department of Health may see a slash in its next year's budget.
The budget cut, the DOH admitted, would lead to the retrenchment of more than 15,000 health workers.
"Rather than scaling down services in the health sector, we should instead move to add additional programs and improve them since health projects are supposed to be among the frontline services of the government," Andal said. "These are some of the issues and concerns that injected us into taking the decisive step of joining the political exercise. We want these issues, the country's general health issue to be translated into laws for the greater benefits of Filipinos," Andal added. (NCS)