MANILA, Philippines — With the coronavirus pandemic exposing the “faults” in the Philippines’ current health system, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said it was “critical” to “fast track” the country’s transition to universal health care.
“Battling the COVID-19 pandemic has demanded much from our health system and not only revealed its faults but emphasized an urgent need to transform and heal the system as a whole,” Duque told legislators during Tuesday’s joint congressional committee meeting on updates on the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act.
“The UHC is crafted to address this very gap that has plagued our system for many years. Hence, it is a critical moment to seize, to fast track the transition to universal healthcare,” he added.
The UHC law, which seeks to give all Filipinos health care coverage and benefits, was enacted into law in February 2019.
Duque said implementing the law and responding to the coronavirus crisis are “symbiotic.”
He further stressed that the implementation of the UHC is “imperative” to address the “inherent weaknesses of the institution all while in the midst of a pandemic.
“The system that the UHC seeks to strengthen is the same system that responds to the pandemic, thus we have enshrined the principles of UHC across all of our efforts including those focused on COVID-19 mitigation and response,” he said.
Meanwhile, the health secretary assured that while resources were shifted to address the “most immediate and pressing concerns” amid the coronavirus crisis, the UHC “has not been displaced by the pandemic.”
“With any reform, new resources need to be mobilized. And while COVID-19 mitigation response entailed shifting resources to prioritize the most immediate and pressing concerns, UHC has not been displaced by the pandemic,” Duque said.
“Instead, this prompted the national government, through the department, to recalibrate, strategize and innovate its approach,” he added.
According to Duque, the government’s plans for the UHC implementation this year would focus on “setting the scaffoldings” for primary care as well as province and city-wide health systems integration, among others.
“It has also come into focus that the very success of our new normal is heavily dependent on the progress we make in these aspects. When we talk of UHC we say…everyone is included and no one is left behind in service of the Filipino people, but this is also a call to action, a call for ‘Bayanihan,.’ Everyone is encouraged to contribute.,” he said.
“Truly, UHC is about inclusivity and solidarity as we believe in co-creating with our people, a health care system that is by and for them,” he added.