Albay gets second Galing Pook award

MANILA, Philippines - Albay’s health strategy towards the early attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) has won the province the Galing Pook Awards for 2011 – the second time in a row for health best practice.

The province was also chosen as one of the country’s Ten Outstanding Local Governance Programs.

Eddie Dorotan, Galing Pook Awards executive director, in a letter to Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, said the National Selection Committee cited Albay’s Health Strategy Towards Early Attainment of the MDG.

The Galing Pook Award will be officially conferred to Albay by January next year.

Albay has repeatedly won awards over the years, both national and international in the field of climate change adaptation and disaster risks reduction, education and health, and MDG-related programs.

Albay’s health programs have been comparably ingenious if not exceptional. building a health system that is sustainable through multi-sectoral contributions, revenue shares, and a domestic-universal health insurance scheme with a holistic aim of “health for all”.

Salceda said this strategy has helped his province attain the MDGs for health – infant mortality, child mortality and maternal mortality – in 2008, well ahead of the global target of 2015.

With the help of the Department of Health, Albay initiated the merger of the Bicol Regional Teaching and Training Hospital (BRTTH) in Legazpi City, the Ziga District Memorial Hospital in Tabaco City and the Josefina Belmonte Memorial Hospital in Ligao City.

The merger has made BRTTH as the biggest and most modern tertiary medical facility south of Manila with nearly 500 beds, with ZMH and JBMH accounting for 50 and 80 beds, respectively.