President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday emphasized the need to further enhance public-private partnerships in the health care industry to improve the Filipinos’ access to quality health services.
The President made this observation during the groundbreaking ceremony of the St. Bernadette Children and Maternity Hospital in San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan.
One of the priorities of his administration, the President said, is providing healthcare and affordable health services to every Filipino.
To attain this, he underscored for cooperation among the people, the government, and the private sector.
“We need support from all sides of society—the government, the private sector, our citizens—so that we can be successful in this goal,” the the Chief Executive said.
“Through the unity and cooperation of the strong bodies of the people, we can establish a progressive Philippines, where no one will be left behind and no one will be left behind in our journey towards a more convenient, safer life in the coming time,” Marcos said.
In his speech, the President urged the private sector and medical professionals to back the administration’s healthcare programs.
“I encourage the private sector and the medical profession to support and promote government health programs, such as in the field of medical services and [investment] in health infrastructure, especially in remote and vulnerable communities,” President Marcos said.
“We are united in the belief that it is the government’s obligation to take care of the health of its citizens, to keep them… to support themselves and their families, and for the vigorous running of our economy,” he pointed out.
The event in Barangay Gaya-Gaya in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, according to Mr. Marcos, is proof of the administration’s dedication to protect the rights of women and children through the provision of high-quality, but affordable healthcare services.
“Through a community hospital, we can bring basic medical services closer to residents and speed up response and treatment in times of need,” President Marcos said.
He urged the Department of Health (DOH) and the San Jose del Monte City government to collaborate with each other to ensure that the children and maternity hospital will be constructed on time and by current standards.
The St. Bernadette Children and Maternity Hospital is one of the administration’s development programs in line with the Philippine Health Facility Development Plan (PHFDP).
Categorized as a Level-1 hospital, the health facility will be equipped with 65 hospital beds, including important facilities such as operating room, recovery room, maternity and isolation facilities, clinical laboratory, imaging facility, and pharmacy.
The President also reiterated the importance of Filipino health workers, saying world leaders have expressed their interest for more of them in their own countries. According to him, world leaders he had met during his overseas travels thanked him for the Filipino healthcare workers working in their respective countries.
In another development, Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan Ople met with a high-level delegation from Austria interested in recruiting more Filipino skilled workers.
Ople said Austria is another promising labor market for Filipino workers.
She said a high-level delegation from Austria visited the DMW on Tuesday where they discussed possible employment opportunities for Filipino skilled workers who may want to work in Austria.
“Upon the advice of the Department of Foreign Affairs, we would need to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to set the tone and define the parameters of our partnership with the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and the Federal State of Vienna,” she said.
The Austrian delegation was led by Professor Gunther Wiesinger, Austrian Ambassador Dr. Johann Brieger, representatives from the government of the City of Vienna and the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.
“In the course of the next couple of years, Austria has a demand for around 60,000 to 75,000 healthcare professionals with an additional 200,000 job openings across all industries,” Wiesinger told Ople.
Meanwhile, Ople thanked the members of the Austrian delegation for their interest in hiring Filipino workers.
She assured that fair and ethical principles will be upheld in the recruitment and hiring of workers through the direct collaboration between the Austrian government and the DMW.
Relatively, she briefed the Austrian delegation of the government’s initiatives to ensure that the country has enough nurses and other healthcare workers to serve the local population.
She also informed the delegation of the DMW’s plan to launch a scholarship fund for nursing students, to be done in close coordination with the Department of Health and the Commission on Higher Education.
She noted that both the Philippines and Austria have sufficient mechanisms and laws to prevent human trafficking as the two countries belong to the Tier 1 category in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report.
DMW data show that as of 2022, there are around 5,824 OFWs in Austria, with about 1,220 workers in the hospitality and food service sector and 749 in the health and social work service.
“Our partnership with the Philippine government through the DMW will create a win-win situation, providing employment opportunities for skilled Filipino workers while contributing to the growth of Austria’s economy,” Brieger said.