Press Statement of Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto
2/3 cut in hospital equipment funds must be restored

Ang Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) ang gamot sa kulang at bulok na mga pasilidad sa mga pampublikong pagamutan.

Sa taong kasalukuyan, ang budget ng HFEP ay P15.9 billion.

Ngunit magkano ang nireseta ng DBM para sa HFEP sa 2020? P5.9 billion. Two-thirds ang kinaltas. It is the budgetary equivalent of cutting the calorie intake of a malnourished child.

The usual reason given for the deep cut is the failure of the DOH to spend its funds on time. But some agencies have worse fund utilization rates than the DOH yet have not been punished with a budget cut.

The same bogey--procurement--is being used again. But the projects in the HFEP menu are not hard to procure.

In the previous years, HFEP funds were for "sunk-in-the-ground projects," like buildings, and were bugged by delays. But for next year, the "spending theme" is equipment, some of which are off-the-shelf items which can be easily purchased.

Hindi naman ito mga "Build, Build, Build" items na bilyun-bilyong piso ang halaga.

Sa first page pa lang ng HFEP list of projects sa 2020 national budget, sasambulat doon ang tingi-tinging P150,000 na halaga ng mga equipment na ipamimigay sa 43 Barangay Health Stations (BHS) sa Abra, Apayao, Benguet.

In fact, sa listahan na iyon, mayroon pa ngang mga BHS na tig-P27,000 lang ang allocation.

Ang kabuuang HFEP budget naman sa lahat ng mga LGU-run hospitals ay P657 million. In this category are many frontline hospitals, which will receive a measly P500,000 each for new equipment.

Even large hospitals directly operated by the DOH will receive a pittance, like the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City, earmarked P75 million in HFEP money.

At this level of funding, the usual "absorptive capacity" excuse cannot be invoked. Even doubling the amount will not make procurement work twice as hard. Para walang aberya, DOH can download funds to local governments based on a menu. And if the latter will offer counterpart financing, then there will be more funds to buy more equipment.

Government should budget based on what the people need. It cannot be reduced to a spreadsheet exercise, lifted from a foreign-funded budgeting manual.

Puno ang mga ospital natin ngayon, mahaba ang pila, kulang ang kagamitan, salat sa gamot. At yan ay hindi nakikita sa anumang accounting ledger.