Universal health care in 3 years, says Ona

MANILA, Philippines—For the first time since assuming office Monday last week, Health Secretary Enrique Ona has drawn a broad outline of the Aquino administration plans for carrying out its ambitious goal of giving universal health care coverage to the people within three years.

With health care beyond the reach of most Filipinos, Ona said that the government would “spend big” to provide poor citizens with health Insurance through the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Philhealth).

He said those who could afford to pay the PhilHealth premiums should do so from their own pockets. He also called for rationalizing the use of scant government funds to benefit the really needy.

“Now is the right time to fulfill the mandate of universal health care for all Filipinos. We must focus on this single national health care strategy over the next three years, as President [Aquino] said, by rapidly expanding the coverage of our poor and the near-poor informal sector,” Ona said in a speech on the commemoration of World Population Day at a Mandaluyong hotel on Monday.

He urged Filipinos enjoying state-subsidized health insurance through Philhealth to exercise “personal responsibility.”

“Those who are covered by PhilHealth must know their entitlements and responsibilities. And those who can afford to pay must pay while the government takes care of the real poor with targeted subsidies,” Ona said.

The former director of the National Kidney Transplant Institute said that achieving universal health care was a “tall order for this administration.”

“Thus, to ensure that universal health care happens in the next three years, we shall take new and creative approaches that will address the inequity of manpower and health resources in the most underserved provinces,” he said.

To bring health services to the countryside, Ona said the government “will try to close the gaps in health services by investing in new community health centers and district hospitals.”

He also rallied government-employed community doctors, nurses, midwives and barangay health workers to “develop their competencies so that we have multi-skilled health workers such as nurse-midwives or nurse-practitioners who can serve even in remote communities.”

Ona also promised an “integration of hospital and primary health care” and better coordination between the Department of Health and mayors and governors who fund municipal, city and provincial hospitals.

“We may have to use innovative and technological solutions to reach our poor and indigenous people in far-flung areas, like the use of helicopters for delivering vaccines or portable emergency services, modern tools of communication and even telemedicine that will make health care possible where there are no modern facilities or specialist doctors,” he said.

Interviewed afterward, Ona said he would propose an infusion of about P9 billion into PhilHealth this year to cover the premiums of some five million poor families representing between 25 million and 28 million individuals. With Leila B. Salaverria –Dona Pazzibugan, Philippine Daily Inquirer