Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque and DOH-CALABARZON [Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon] Regional Director Eduardo Janairo together with local chief executives of the provinces of Batangas and Quezon formally signed the Memorandum of Agreement for the implementation of the Universal Health Care program in their respective areas.
Duque said the ceremonial signing reaffirmed their commitment in serving the Filipino people with utmost care.
This can be done by providing equitable access and ensures the quality of medical services will contribute greatly for the improvement of the health of the recipients..
“With the implementation of UHC we can now assure that every patient needing medical care in these two provinces can smoothly navigate from primary care level to secondary and up to the tertiary level without difficulty and without thinking of any financial burden that can hamper their pursuit for medical treatment,” he said.
The UHC seeks to address health system fragmentation and to reorient the health system towards primary health care, primarily through the integration of local health systems into province-wide or city-wide health systems.
This would ensure the effective and efficient delivery of population-based and individual-based health services, by virtue of Section 19 of Republic Act 11223, or the Universal Health Care Act of 2019.
An integrated province-wide or city-wide health system is a strategy in which the province and its component LGUs, working closely with the civil society organizations, and other partners such as DOH, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Education, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development, agree to take shared responsibility.
The responsibility involved how collective resources are organized, managed, delivered and financed to improve the outcomes desired of the payer, provider, and recipient of services.
“This is just the beginning of a six-year transition period given to LGUs that commit to province-wide and city-wide integration, wherein managerial and technical integration is expected to be demonstrated in the first three years [2020 – 2022] of implementation to be followed by financial integration which will be exhibited within the next three years [2023 – 2025] thereafter,” Janairo explained.
“We shall continue to provide support to these LGUs, both technical and financial, as appropriate and in consideration of the available budget.
Of the 33 provinces and cities under the department’s UHC Integration Sites Program, the provinces of Batangas and Quezon were the first to implement the program for the development of local health service provider networks.