WITH current and former health secretaries in attendance, decision and opinion-makers in the country's health sector gathered last Tuesday for the first Philippine Health Outlook Forum to discuss various issues affecting the health of Filipinos.
Organized by the Zuellig Family Foundation, the forum seeks recommendations from public health experts to address inequities in the country's health system and organize concerted action to improve health indicators especially among the less privileged.
Mr. Ernesto Garilao, Zuellig Foundation president and former agrarian reform secretary, stressed the need for the health sector to be organized if it is to engage government for reforms. "The reason why agrarian reform is kept alive is because the farmers are organized. The poor are not organized to assert better health services from the government," he said.
Among the key forum participants were newly appointed Department of Health (DOH) secretary Esperanza Cabral, and former health secretaries Alberto Romualdez, Jaime Galvez-Tan and Felipe Estrella and over a hundred health leaders and professionals.
Congressman Edcel C. Lagman giving his presentation on reproductive health, maternal child health and family planning.
Romualdez cited the importance of reforms in the areas of delivery health services and health care financing. He proposed a "quantum increase in tax-based coordinated government spending and the reorientation of PhilHealth as a true social health insurance."
He cited reports said that many of the less fortunate Filipinos do not avail of PhilHealth services due to lack of knowledge and institutional restraints.
Romualdez also pointed out that the prices of medicines in the country are among the highest in the world and certainly too high in relation to household incomes of most Filipinos.
The other noted speakers in the gathering were Dr. Joselito Acuin, who tackled "Fragmentation of Health Services and How the System Discriminates Against the Poor"; Dr. Leizel Lagrada, who talked about health insurance and financing coverage and expenditures, explaining how the rich benefit more than the poor; Dr. Eric Tayag and Dr. Thelma Tupasi, who both discussed emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases where poor people are more exposed to risks brought by communicable diseases; and Professor Suzette Lazo, who expounded on bioequivalence and issues of quality and access to essential drugs.
Galvez-Tan rounded up the discussion by identifying geographic priorities and proposing "a package of core public health services for all Filipinos that is cost effective and affordable and takes into account specific groups within the population and their needs."
Also discussed in the forum were the imperatives of the Reproductive Health Bill, which was presented by Rep. Edcel Lagman.
---
The following are the Philippine Health Outlook Forum presentations:
Key Drivers of Poverty Reduction: The Health-Poverty Nexus
Dr. Arsenio M. Balisacan
Professor of Economics, University of the Philippines - Diliman
Health Inequities: The Urgent Need for Health Systems Reform in the Philippines
Dr. Alberto G. Romualdez
Former Secretary, Department of Health
Hon. Edcel C. Lagman
Representative, 1st District of Albay
Who's Minding the Health System?
Dr. Joselito Acuin
Clinical Epidemiologist and Senior Mangement Officer, Medical City
Dr. Liezel Lagrada
OIC, Health Policy Development and Planning Bureau, Department of Health
Emerging Infectious Diseases: Protecting the Health of the Poor, from Evidence to Purposive Action
Dr. Eric Tayag
Director, National Epidemiology Center, Department of Health
Dr. Thelma Tupasi
President, Tropical Disease Foundation
Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel? Finding Solutions to our Drug Issues
Dr. Suzette Lazo
Professor of Pharmacology
Health Outlook for the Philippines
Dr. Jaime Galvez-Tan
Former Secretary, Department of Health
Comments