BAGUIO CITY (PIA) – Citing the need for a full implementation of the Universal Healthcare Act, the Department of Health (DOH) is taking its primary care services down to the farthest villages, if only to ensure full coverage of its program.
At the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas media forum, Dr. Janice Bugtong, in her capacity as acting Assistant Regional Director for the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), assured public access to quality primary health care services by sending medical teams to remote (if not isolated) villages, regardless of location.
To start, Bugtong hinted at the regional office’s ongoing efforts targeting eight priority health programs, which include a higher immunization rate for children, accessibility to safe drinking water, maternal health, tuberculosis treatment, and antiretroviral therapy for HIV-diagnosed people.
Likewise, part of the regional health agenda also covers road safety, hypertension and diabetes control, and cancer preventive measures embarking on screening, diagnosis, and treatment.
“Sa Bagong Pilipinas, nagbago po ang estratehiya ng health sector at ng DOH, ito po yung strategic focus natin. Palalakasin po natin ang access sa primary care services sa lahat ng settings. Dapat malaman po ng ating kababayan kung ano po ang available health services sa ating health units.”
“Ang misyon po ng DOH ngayon—to steward the development of an effective, resilient, equitable, and people-centered health system for universal health care,” Bugtong noted.
She also disclosed new initiatives primarily designed to address the primary care needs of some 28 million poor Filipinos through the establishment of Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Services (BUCAS).
Meanwhile, DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, together with DOH-CAR Regional Director Ferdinand Benbenen, led the inauguration of the region’s first BUCAS Center at the Anastacia Sagel Municipal Hospital in Natonin, Mountain Province, on July 2.
The new BUCAS Center, which was made possible through a partnership with the Luis Hora Memorial Regional Hospital (LHMRH) in Bauko, Mountain Province, will complement the delivery of primary health care in Natonin. Under the tie-up, LHMRH will be deploying a medical team for specialty health services to local folks.
The DOH-CAR, in collaboration with the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, the Benguet State University, and the local government unit of Bokod, Benguet, is also reportedly working on the establishment of another BUCAS Center, this time in Sitio Ambangeg of the municipality.
Relatedly, the Apayao provincial government, the DOH-CAR, through the DOH-retained hospital in the province, also aims to provide similar health augmentation services through five satellite clinics that will be established through the initiative of Governor Elias Bulut Jr.
To boost the delivery of primary health care services down to the purok level, Bugtong disclosed that DOH has the “PuroKalusugan” program. Through the regional offices, Human Resources for Health (HRH) will be hired to bring health promotion, preventive care, and curative care directly to the doorsteps of the people. HRH hiring will be tailored to the unique needs of each community and focused on the eight priority outcomes.
Bugtong said the DOH hired and deployed 872 HRH composed of doctors to the barrio, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, med techs, nutritionists, dentists, and physical therapists under the National Health Workers Support System.
To further reach out to the geographically isolated and disadvantageous areas, the DOH, in partnership with the provincial hospitals, is also set to deploy mobile primary care facilities in every province to provide primary care with diagnostics and medicines. (CCD-PIA CAR)
