2 senators say doctor’s killing imperils DTTB program

INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

Two senators on Saturday expressed concern over the killing of a Doctor to the Barrios (DTTB) volunteer, citing “the current climate of violence…as a serious threat to people’s access to public health.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Sen. Risa Hontiveros scored the killing of Dr. Dreyfuss Perlas, 31, who was gunned down on March 1 on his way home in Barangay Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte.

“The current climate of violence under the Duterte government poses a serious threat to people’s access to public health,”  Hontiveros said. “[Such climate] is a mortal danger to the lives of health workers,” she added.

Recto, meanwhile, lamented how the incident could discourage other medicine graduates from joining the DTTB program.

“Konti na nga lang, nalagasan pa (And to think there are so few volunteers! Now we’ve lost another one),” he said.

The senator said only 320 out of 946 slots in the DTTB program were filled as of 2016, leaving 626 low-income municipalities without medical services.

The Department of Health, Recto said, should revisit the program to make it more attractive through a better package of benefits.

Hontiveros called on the health community to show its indignation over Perlas’ death  and urged the authorities “to identify his killers and bring them to justice.”

“No one is safe anymore. Even those who are silently and selflessly working for the promotion of universal healthcare are not spared from the assassin’s bullet,” the senator added.