DOH: Most in need is medical assistance priority

“Every Filipino, regardless of status in life, should have equal access to healthcare. This is the essence of Kalusugan Pangkalahatan,” Secretary of Health Enrique Ona said.

The Department of Health (DOH) today reiterated that no patient seeking medical help should be turned away by any health facility, government or private. More so, if the patient’s condition is considered an emergency case. This, after reports circulated in the news and social media that a patient died after being turned away by a private hospital when the patient’s family failed to produce the amount required by the hospital as deposit.

The health chief clarified, “The law states that all cases should be treated and admitted, if necessary, by a hospital.”

One of the thrusts of UHC (Universal Health Care) is to improve access to quality hospitals and other health facilities. Under Health Facility Enhancement Program (HFEP), which is one of the major pillars of KP, the DOH is continually modernizing the government health facilities to improve access to quality health services and to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) particularly on the reduction of Maternal Mortality and Infant Mortality. From its implementationin 2010 to 2014, HFEP has received increasing funding for 8,453 HFEP-funded projects. These were implemented in 6,911 health facilities – 761 LGU hospitals and 70 DOH hospitals; 3,395 rural health units (RHUs) and 2,685 barangay health stations (BHSs).

HFEP prioritized upgrading of primary and secondary health facilities to improve access to health care at grassroots level, and to reinforce tertiary health facilities.

In addition to health facility improvement, the DOH has the Medical Assistance Program (MAP) amounting to P3 billion to assist indigent patients.

“MAP is made available to all DOH hospitals like Philippine Heart Center, and local government unit (LGU) hospitals like Quezon City General Hospital, Sampaloc District Hospital and San Juan Medical Center to assist patients who are most in need, including walk-in patients. DOH is against any palakasan system. For MAP utilization, the DOH, as in the past, looks at the poor as a medical assistance priority”, the health chief concluded.