Rep. Ray T. Reyes of AnaKalusugan party-list on Saturday asked the government to prioritize ramping up its efforts to provide accessible healthcare to the public.
Reyes made the statement in reaction to a recent survey by the OCTA Research group which showed that staying healthy remains the most urgent personal concern for a majority of Filipinos.
“It is no surprise that health remains the top priority of our kababayans. We in government should waste no time in working to ease this growing concern,” Reyes said.
“Fine-tuning and implementing necessary improvements to the Universal Healthcare (UHC) Act should be a priority to provide our kababayans with greater access to high-quality health services and treatments,” he added.
Reyes, who is the vice chair of the House Committee on Health, cited problems with Philhealth registration as one of the stumbling blocks in the efficient implementation of UHC.
He called on Philhealth to streamline its validating process and make it easier for Filipinos to avail of healthcare services.
“Under the UHC lahat ng Pilipino miyembro na ng Philhealth. So bakit pahirapan pagdating sa mga ospital. Hindi ba dapat isang valid ID lang sapat na?” he said.
“Bakit kailangan pa natin pahirapan yung mga taong nagtatrabaho nang maigi para lang makuha ang serbisyo na dapat nakalaan sa kanila,” he added.
Reyes also questioned the excess funds of Philhealth amounting to P200 billion which he said should be used in providing healthcare services to the people.
According to Reyes, AnaKalusugan Party-list also did an informal survey as early as January last year showing a trend that people are realizing the value of health as a priority.
“There is a growing demand that health care should be provided by the government as part of its priority services, and if possible, subsidized to fulfill the mandate of Universal Health Care,” he said.