MANILA, Philippines — The World Health Organization (WHO) has lauded the Philippines for adopting the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act, describing it as a “landmark legislation” that will benefit all Filipinos.
According to WHO Representative to the Philippines Gundo Weiler, the UHC law has “tremendous potential for expanding quality and affordable health services for every Filipino.”
“In the country like the Philippines, which has a strong capacity and strong health sector, we look at universal health coverage foremost as a political choice,” Weiler said in a statement on Thursday.
“If there is a strong political will, the system can deliver and this act indeed is a very clear and concrete commitment to the population and puts health on top of the national agenda,” he noted.
Last Wednesday, President Duterte signed the UHC bill into law that automatically enrols all Filipino in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), among other benefits.
Weiler said that UHC is “one of the core targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda because access to health services is really a foundation for making our population healthier across the world.”
At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on Sept. 25, 2015, world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice and tackle climate change by 2030.
“It is not the end point but a starting point for a major reform effort here in the Philippines ... We, from WHO, is 100 percent committed to be with all of you in every step along the way,” Weiler said.
He said the WHO supports calls for increase in tobacco taxes as one of the measures to raise income for UHC.
“Plus, tobacco tax is a win-win measure. It does protect the population, in particular the poorest part of the population and at the same time, it raises resources for the implementation of this very important act,” he added.
Devil in the details
For his part, Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said yesterday the Department of Health (DOH) should make sure the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) it will issue on the UHC law will be faithful to the intentions of the law of covering all Filipinos with health services.
Ejercito, principal author of RA 11223 or the UHC law, said many measures in the past have been in effect watered down or their powers weakened when the implementing agencies issue IRRs that are not “faithful” to the statutes.
“There is a saying that ‘the devil is in the details.’ I’m absolutely not preempting the outcome of the IRR, but just giving unsolicited advice to those who will constitute the panel that will discuss and formulate the IRR, for them to be accurate in understanding, interpreting and detailing the laws,” he said.
The landmark law will not only cover all Filipinos with health insurance under PhilHealth, but also lower expenses for check-ups, selected laboratory tests and hospitalization. – With Paolo Romero