Cabral: Forget the rich; poor need health care more

Published by rudy Date posted on March 18, 2010

MANILA, Philippines—Forget about the rich.

This was Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral’s succinct advice to the Philippines’ next president insofar as health care was concerned.

“The rich can afford health care even without the help of government. It is the poor who have to be served by the government first of all,” Cabral said at a press conference that followed a presidential forum on health issues sponsored by the Philippine College of Physicians at the Medical City in Pasig City on Tuesday night.

Cabral said the country’s next president must push for universal health care and concentrate on the poorest regions where people have no access to hospitals and clinics.

“My advice to the next president as far as health is concerned is that he will have to deal with the disparities in the health system. He will have to look at the inequities. Forget about the rich,” she said.

Cabral noted that in terms of budget allocations, health care was not among the government’s top priorities.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s probably just 1. Health gets 2 percent of the national budget and 3 percent of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) but that happens because more than 50 percent of spending on health comes from the private sector.”

Only former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro and Sen. Richard Gordon attended the forum out of the four candidates invited by the Philippine College of Physicians.

Former Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez said he thought Teodoro performed a little better than Gordon.

“I think both candidates get 5 points apiece just for being here. So on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate Gibo as maybe an 8, and Gordon, a 6 or 7,” he said.

“My impression was that Gibo was very well briefed. I think he had a lot of facts and a lot of ideas straight. I think Senator Gordon was basically piloting by the seat of his pants. I don’t think he had complete information,” Romualdez said.

“I don’t think he would have said all those things about reproductive health if he had known at the back of his head the figure of fertility rates in this country,” he said, referring to Gordon’s statement conveying his reluctance to spend on reproductive health.

Medical City president and chief executive officer Alfredo Bengzon was more diplomatic, saying he thought the two both acquitted themselves well.

Bengzon praised Teodoro for recognizing the need to address the problems of the health sector in a systemic rather than symptomatic manner.

“If you want to move forward with health, you have to have the knowledge, the skills, the disposition, the orientation, and the sanity to balance the interests of government and those of other vested interests,” Bengzon said. –DJ Yap, Philippine Daily Inquirer

July 2025

Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”

Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.

Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar.  Reject Military!

#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos

Time to support & empower survivors. Time to spark a global conversation. Time for #GenerationEquality to #orangetheworld!

July


3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 Ju
ly – International Plastic Bag Free Day
 
5 July –
World Youth Skills Day 
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day 
17 July – World Day for
International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons 


Monthly Observances:

Schools Safety Month

Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month

Weekly Observances:

Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week

 

Daily Observances:

First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines

Categories

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.