Budget row hits health services

As lawmakers continue to bicker over this year’s national budget, infrastructure needed to deliver vital health services are not getting built and thousands of health care workers aren’t being deployed, especially in rural and depressed areas of the country.

Health Undersecretary Eric Domingo said that with the budget passage delayed, they had been forced to make do with what they had to ensure that health services would still be delivered to the public.

Because of the budget stalemate between the Senate and the House of Representatives, Domingo said the Department of Health would be unable to proceed with the enhancement of various health facilities in the country,  including the purchase of medical equipment and the construction of hospitals.

The program entails a budget of around P16.7 billion.

He added that they also had to put on hold for three months now the deployment of around 25,000 health workers such as nurses, midwives, pharmacists, among others.

“It is our wish that the budget will already be approved by March so we could start the deployment by April.,” Domingo told the Inquirer.