DOH eyes adding palliative care to PhilHealth coverage

END-OF-LIFE ASSISTANCE The Department of Health also plans to assign more palliative care doctors to government hospitals, like the National Kidney Transplant Institute in Quezon City, according to Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa. —GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

To ease the emotional and financial burden of families caring for dying relatives, the Department of Health (DOH) is looking into the possible inclusion of palliative care among the benefit packages that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will be enhancing soon.

“I’d love to see a palliative care or end-of-life benefit package. The range of end-of-life [care] is very broad … maybe the package will be included [in other PhilHealth benefits] like the one we give to cancer patients,” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said in an online interview with Inquirer Group reporters on Friday.

Herbosa called on palliative care societies and experts to submit a proposal to the PhilHealth board’s benefits committee, which he chairs. Any proposal, he said, would undergo actuarial and other technical studies before being presented to the board, which he also chairs.

READ: Palliative care and quality of life

PhilHealth earlier this week approved enhanced benefit packages for heart attacks, 10 rare diseases, preventive oral health at primary care, peritoneal dialysis, and assistive mobility devices.

Part of health law

Palliative care is included among the services of the Universal Health Care Act (Republic Act No. 11223) to which every Filipino shall be granted immediate eligibility and access, Teodoro said.

According to the health secretary, when a family member falls gravely ill, there is often a debate among relatives if funds and other resources should be exhausted to try to cure the patient or to just accept the inevitable, provide palliative or end-of-life care, and save money for the needs of other members.

Quality of life

The DOH, Herbosa said, is planning to assign more palliative care doctors in government hospitals who can concentrate on and help such a family to decide on end-of-life care.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines palliative care as “an approach that improves the quality of life of patients (adults and children) and their families who are facing problems associated with life-threatening illness.”

A human right

Addressing suffering involves taking care of issues beyond physical symptoms, the WHO added.

Using a team approach to support patients and their caregivers, palliative care addresses practical needs and provides bereavement counseling, offering a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death.

READ: Palliative care: Helping the dying ‘to live until he dies’

The WHO said palliative care is explicitly recognized under the human right to health. It should be provided through person-centered and integrated health services that pay special attention to the specific needs and preferences of individuals.

Palliative care is required for a wide range of diseases. The majority of adults in need of palliative care have chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, AIDS, and diabetes.

Many other conditions may require palliative care, including kidney failure, chronic liver disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, neurological disease, dementia, congenital anomalies, and drug-resistant tuberculosis, according to the WHO.