Sotto wants Pasig health services ‘depoliticized’

Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto. Photo by Ryan Leagogo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — On his 100th day in office, Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto said he wanted to make the city a pioneer in the implementation of the Universal Health Care law as he also vowed to “depoliticize” health services.

The 30-year-old mayor bared on Tuesday that his administration had allocated 21 percent of the city’s P10.7 billion budget in 2020 for health.

Sotto said he had also certified as a priority agenda the rationalization of the city’s health office into the Pasig City Health Department.

“This will pave the way for regular plantilla positions for health professionals and additional health workers,” he stressed in his first State of the City Address at Plaza Bonifacio. “Through this, more doctors and nurses will be encouraged to serve in our city.”

Boosting Pasig’s budget for health would also fund the expansion of PhilHealth membership for the city’s marginalized sectors and the delivery of medical supplies directly to 42 barangay health centers, Sotto said.

His administration hopes to invest P36.8 million for PhilHealth membership per year, starting with 11,000 tricycle drivers, and a total of P772.7 million for medicines and supplies in 2020. —Mariejo S. Ramos