Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire (Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net file photo)
MANILA, Philippines — Newly appointed Health Secretary Teodoro “Ted” Herbosa on Thursday said he appointed Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire to oversee all undersecretaries in charge of operations in the Department of Health (DOH) and Undersecretary Eric Tayag as chief information officer.
Vergeire served as the DOH’s officer-in-charge before Herbosa’s appointment.
“I gave her a position of chief of all the undersecretaries that are in charge of our operations of all the different regions, because we have four undersecretaries taking care of the DOH activities in Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Southern Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao,” said Herbosa in an interview on ANC.
“She will be helping me, helping me deliver the goals. Her experience and previous job of caretaker of DOH will continue in that segment of operations,” he added.
Since Herbosa’s top priority as health secretary is to overhaul the Department of Health (DOH) digitally, selecting Tayag as chief information officer is timely.
He cited Tayag’s tenure as the Knowledge Management and Information Technology Service director from 2016 to 2022.
“[Digitalization of DOH] is my priority and I’m going to make [him] work and make sure that we digitize healthcare so it becomes accessible in the most remote areas of the public,” Herbosa pointed out.
Herbosa explained that the digitalization of DOH is one of his medium-term goals, specifically, to digitize how the department delivers healthcare, how the budget is spent, and how DOH operations are monitored.
The Presidential Communications Office announced Herbosa’s appointment as health secretary on Monday, June 5. He took his oath of office the following day before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
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