Congress urged to approve P53.6-B health budget

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) yesterday asked Congress to approve the proposed budget of P53.6 billion for the Department of Health (DOH) for 2013 to boost the government’s drive for universal health care.

In a statement, PMA president Modesto Llamas said the “increase money flow will booster up” the UHC, benefiting the “under-privileged countrymen.”

Llamas also lauded the Aquino administration “for its efforts to address the rising concerns in the health sector by increasing budgetary allocation in this particular field.”

“The previous budgets of the DOH has steadily increased from P18 billion in 2010 to P44 billion in 2012 and now the proposed P53.6 billion in 2013. We can see the marked increase, though it is still way off the 50 percent of the total Gross National Product that the World Health Organization is suggesting. Nevertheless this is a substantial increase in terms of peso amount,” he noted.

Llamas maintained there is also a need to upgrade the infrastructure and facilities in many district hospitals, while “physicians in the government service have to be upgraded in salary and allowances and this will require huge budget.”

“The Magna Carta for Public Health Workers has to be implemented fully and correctly. We talk about brain drain, let us help in preventing this by making it worthwhile for government physicians to stay in the country instead of moving out to find greener pasture abroad,” he added.

Under the Aquino administration, the DOH is aiming to achieve universal health care by enrolling all Filipinos in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).