Facade of the DOH main office in Manila. INQUIRER.net file photo / Consuelo Marquez
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) is proposing a P203.7-billion budget for 2021 mainly focusing on the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law and the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Health Undersecretary Mario Villaverde said the proposed budget for next year is 27 percent higher than the 2020 budget, noting that beginning 2014, the health department’s budget has increased “significantly.”
“The 2021 budget, as proposed, is 27 percent higher than the 2020 budget level,” Villaverde told lawmakers during the online briefing of the House committee on health.
“This is mainly due to the increase in the allocation for HRH (human resources for health) deployment program from P9.95 billion this year to P16.6 billion in 2021 as well as the increase in the medical assistance to indigent patients from P10.5 billion this year to P17.3 billion proposed for next year,” he added.
HRH deployment includes doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, pharmacists, nutritionist-dietitians, medical technologists, and physical therapists, among others.
Specifically, P127 billion or 62 percent of the entire proposed budget of the DOH will go to the operations and programs being implemented by the Office of the Secretary, P490 million will go to the National Nutrition Council as an attached agency of the health department, and P75.96 billion will go to attached corporations of the DOH.
Attached agencies include the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) at P71.35 billion; the Philippine Heart Center at P1.77 billion; the National Kidney and Transplant Institute at P1.27 billion; the Philippine Children’s Medical Center at P1.04 billion; and the Lung Center of the Philippines at P410 million.
Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado earlier said that the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 focuses on government spending on improving the country’s healthcare systems, ensuring food security, creating more jobs by investing on labor-intensive projects, enabling a digital government and economy, and helping communities cope.
For the healthcare sector, Avisado said that budgetary support will be provided for the National Health Insurance Program, medical assistance to indigent patients, human resources for health program, and health facilities enhancement program, among others.
The DOH is set to present its budget proposal before the House committee on appropriations on September 14.