Group seeks P90-B budget for health care

MANILA, Philippines—A group of medical practitioners, finding the P32 billion proposed national budget for health too small, has put forward an alternative P90-billion spending plan for the Department of Health (DOH).

The Health Alliance for Democracy (Head) said its alternative budget proposal would respond better to the perennial woes of the DOH and the increasing outbreaks of infectious diseases in the country.

“This alternative health budget highlights the current major areas of concern: lack of healthcare services, loss of health personnel and the need to focus on preventive aside from curative care,” the group said.

The group is eyeing the P80 billion increased allotment for debt payments in the 2011 budget as the “key source” for its alternative budget.

According to the Head breakdown of its proposed P90-billion budget, at least P40 billion would be earmarked for the improvement of the public healthcare delivery system and the services of state hospitals.

This means that all 12 DOH-run hospitals would each get P1 billion and that all 55 public hospitals across the country must be provided with P500 million by the government.

Not a priority

“Judging from the proposed 2011 national government budget for health, the [Aquino] administration does not believe that improving healthcare is a priority,” the group said in a statement.

In the proposed budget that President Aquino has submitted to Congress, the budget for health increased by 13.6 percent, from this year’s P29.3 billion to P33.3 billion in 2011.

In Mr. Aquino’s budget proposal, the DOH ranked 7th among the departments that are to get the highest allocation, next to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Five percent of GNP

But this was still a “far cry” from the World Health Organization’s recommendation that the health budget must be five percent of the gross national product (GNP), or around P440 billion, said Head secretary general Dr. Geneve Rivera.

In its alternative budget proposal, Head allotted P25 billion for health human resource maintenance and development, which it said will see the full implementation of the Nursing Act of 2002, the so-called magna carta of public health workers.

P7 billion for salaries

The group also proposed that at least P7 billion be earmarked for the increase in salaries of state doctors, nurses and other health personnel.

It also proposed that P25 billion be allocated for preventive and public health programs and health promotion: P5 billion for infectious diseases, including tuberculosis, dengue, malaria and HIV/AIDS; another P5 billion for the implementation of the national drug policy; and P5 billion for reproductive health and safe motherhood.

The alternative budget proposal also tackles chronic health problems such as high maternal mortality, prevalence and recurrence of infectious diseases and high cost of medicines, it added. –Jocelyn Uy, Philippine Daily Inquirer