Seniors law author bats for better elderly healthcare

DIGOS CITY—The need for a more focused program on geriatric health could best be illustrated by the case of Mang Romy, 75, a resident here and dialysis patient who shuttles between his hospital and a private laboratory in Davao City, a distance of 65 kilometers.

It is a task that is daunting for the former government employee who said he wished what many others in his condition would, too—accessible government health service for people his age.

“Couldn’t there be a hospital that offers all the services that elderly people like me need?” he said.

The answer could lie in a proposal made by a former legislator who said the government should give “due focus on geriatric health.”

In a statement, pastor Benny Abante, a former congressman, said one of the things the government could do was to transfer the management of Dr. Eva Macaraeg-Macapagal National Center for Geriatric Health (NCGH) to the Department of Health (DOH).

“This is something that should have been done yesterday,” Abante said.

He said the move could be done with an executive order and did not need legislation.

In the wake of what he said was a “surplus in savings” by the government, Abante said improving geriatric health services was doable.

The transfer of NCGH management to the DOH from the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) would pave the way for a “full range of health-care services for the country’s elderly beyond the capabilities and meager budget” of the NKTI, Abante said.

A bill allocating P250 million for NCGH remains pending in the House of Representatives.

“To give the NCGH due attention is to honor 7.5 million elderly citizens—most of them marginalized—for their service to the country and people,” said Abante, the author of the Senior Citizens Expanded Act of 2010.

He said the President should issue an EO because “our elderly do not have the luxury of time to wait.”

A geriatric health program need not be a dole because it could also be a “growth driver and profitable social venture” that would benefit nurses and returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

“A great majority of our OFWs are either nurses or caregivers,” Abante said. “Taking advantage of a growing geriatric health industry for local and foreign elderly will create employment opportunities for our people so they do not have to bear the social cost of seeking jobs overseas,” he said.

Experts said medical tourism in the Asia Pacific region was projected to grow to as much as $3 trillion by 2017 and the Philippines could benefit largely from it.

“This means jobs for our people. Most of all, jobs that would not have to tear families apart,” Abante said. Eldie Aguirre, Inquirer Mindanao