These hot, summer days and nights of the El Niño bring to fore discussions on climate change and the environment. But there is one other concern that is as hot, if not hotter, because it is considered as one of those issues both presidential and vice presidential candidates need to address in their current campaign platforms and in the forthcoming elections. Even in the US, which is also in an election year, the topic of Universal Health Coverage or UHC has taken center stage, not just between Democrats and Republicans but within the parties themselves.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “universal health coverage means that all people receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship when paying for them. The full spectrum of essential, quality health services should be covered including health promotion, prevention and treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care.”
Recognizing the need to fully discuss UHC, the Chevening Alumni Foundation of the Philippines Inc. or CAFPI, the association of British government scholars here in the Philippines, together with the Health Sector Group Secretariat of the Asian Development Bank, held a roundtable discussion to bring together different perspectives that can make UHC better and more responsive to the needs of people.
As an election issue, it is to see whether the UHC program under the Aquino administration—the Department of Health’s Kalusugan Pangkalahatan Program as well as the National Health Insurance Program under Philhealth—had made significant impact on the greater number of the population and on what, if ever, the next administration would do to further UHC.
I was invited to give the private sector perspective on UHC. I informed the audience that the MVP Group of Companies is partnering with government and eyeing more health care ventures to provide quality and affordable medical services to poor Filipinos nationwide. This includes acquiring more hospitals and increasing bed capacity from the current 2,000 to around 5,000 as well as improving services in existing hospitals. The Group has likewise initiated an e-health type of service that would provide for immediate health and medical needs from urban centers to far-flung barangays and communities, particularly during times of calamity, through the efficient use of telecommunications.
At the end of the roundtable discussion, all speakers and resource persons agreed or perhaps iterated, that UHC is not just a government responsibility, although we look primarily to government for this, but also a responsibility of both the private sector and civil society.