Healthcare system ‘weakest link’ in gov’t—Sotto

Supporters greet Senate President Vicente Sotto III at the People’s Gymnasium in Tuguegarao City on Tuesday. March 15. (Photo by Villamor Visaya Jr.)

TUGUEGARAO CITY—Senate President and vice presidential bet Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday lamented the lack of sustained maternal and child health services in the country.

Sotto and his running mate, Senator Panfilo Lacson, held a sectoral forum at the People’s Gymnasium in this city and was attended by 1,000 women and sectoral representatives.

“The healthcare system is the weakest link in our government,” Sotto told the Inquirer when asked about their plan to improve the maternal healthcare services in the country if elected with Lacson.

He said the health department has failed in its mandate to provide reliable healthcare services despite the funds given during the pandemic.

“We enacted the Maternal Health Care Act… I do not know why they have yet to implement fully the services (under the law),” he said.

Earlier, the Department of Health reported that pregnant women faced many challenges due to the pandemic, with quarantine restrictions affecting the delivery and utilization of maternal care services in 2020 and 2021.

“Ang gaganda ng mga batas ginagawa namin pero kapag ginagawan ng executive ng IRR (Implementing Rules and Regulations), nagbabago at tila yun na ang batas, mali,” Sotto told the crowd.

(The laws that we enact are good, but when the executive branch crafts the implementing rules and regulations, they change. Wrong.)

Lacson said the executive department of the government should widen the reach of maternal and child health services.

“With P700 billion lost in corruption, we could have spent this on healthcare and social services,” he added.

The Philippine Statistics Authority has reported that 1,975 women died due to maternal causes in 2020, up from 1,458 in 2019.

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