MANILA, Philippines — Senator Pia Cayetano believes that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has “open(ed) our eyes” to the lack of funding allocated for the country’s healthcare system.
During the Senate health committee hearing on Tuesday, Cayetano underscored the need to invest in the Philippines’ healthcare system.
“I welcome, I do say it, that I welcome this unfortunate event known as COVID, because it does open our eyes, it gives us that window of opportunity to provide the necessary funding, to provide the necessary attention and effort that our healthcare deserves,” the lawmaker said.
Before this, Cayetano said that the government, in the past, has not been “investing sufficient funding in our healthcare system.”
Sad reality
“I became aware of the sad reality that we have not been investing sufficient funding in our healthcare system, it has often been neglected in fact if we look back today, many of us would still be surprised to know that that time, there wasn’t even consistent funding for vaccination, can you imaging that?” she added.
Cayetano, who previously chaired the Senate health committee in 2004, sought for the inclusion of health infrastructures in the administration’s flagship projects under the “Build, Build, Build” program.
“We lived at a time when we could not even, we did not even provide sufficient funding for vaccination which is the most basic way of protecting our infants from infectious diseases. So we look back today, and that is very shocking, but then a few years from now, we will also look back and ask ourselves whether we give what we could at the time we haven’t been able to do so,” she added.
“I am so happy to live and to be serving under our President because he has shown that he is very much dedicated to ensure the welfare and the health and the Filipinos,” she added.
To date, Philippine health officials have so far confirmed 14,669 COVID-19 cases in the country.
Of the number, 3,412 have recovered while 886 have died.
The COVID-19 crisis has triggered government-imposed lockdowns that have displaced workers and crippled the economy.