CEBU CITY, Cebu (PIA) — The Department of Health-Central Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-CVCHD) has launched a book that will serve as a guide for the regional and local government health offices on how to operate by its mandate.
Written together with former specialist and independent health policy development consultant of DOH, Napoleon S. Espiritu II, DOH-7 regional director Jaime S. Bernadas said this book has been conceptualized since 2010 to integrate the activities and simplify the encounters of the regional office with the local government units (LGUs) and other government and non-governmental organizations.
Recollecting concerns on frequent unavailability of the provincial and municipal health officers due to their attendance in capacity trainings or seminars, Bernadas saw the need for an integrated guide on all their programs, initiatives, practices, among others.
“This is really what we dreamt it to become, how to encourage our regional offices to carry its mandate. It’s not only the local government and the provincial offices that need integration. We also have to integrate, the regional offices have to integrate,” Bernadas said.
He added that “integration, per se, is how the office carries out its mandate without being redundant, without being a burden to local governments calling its personnel time and time again for different interventions and discussions.”
Bernadas said the book covers the seven major components on how the regional health office operates: policy development, human resource development, health promotion, health regulations, information management, surveillance systems, and health financing.
The DOH-7 chief said the book serves as an integrated document for health workers to better appreciate the operations of the department, particularly of the regional office.
“Integration now would mean integration of public health programs, integration of the different health systems that were fragmented by RA 7160 and hoping there will be a revisit to that revolution so that we could effectively reintegrate into a province wide health system as mandated by Universal Health Care law,” Bernadas said.
The launching took place during the 2024 Local Health Systems (LHS) Awards of the DOH-7 through the Health Systems Development Section (HSDS) held in Mandaue City, Cebu. (JJT/PIA 7 Cebu)
