THE Iloilo City Council is proposing a mandatory hospice care services to identified indigent persons with disabilities (PWDs) and bed-ridden senior citizens.
Councilor Candice Magdalane Tupas, chair of the committee on health, is sponsoring the proposed ordinance establishing the hospice care services to indigent PWDs and senior citizens in every barangay in the city.
The city has a total of 180 barangays, of which 95 percent have barangay hall and health center that barangay health workers reports to everyday.
The services aim to improve the quality of life of indigent PWDs and senior citizens in order to alleviate their physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual well being as well as their families who cannot afford the services of a private health care institution.
The City Social Welfare and Development Office and the City Health Office will hold trainings intended for the barangay health workers (BHWs) who are tasked to undertake the responsibilities.
The city health doctors, nurses and BHWs are required to undergo trainings and seminars with geriatric specialists.
Tupas said she is preparing for a public consultation with stakeholders and her ordinance will have to pass through second and final reading before implementation.