Provide Congress with an inventory list of all gov't 'healthcare force,' Angara urges DOH

Do we have enough doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives to serve our 'kababayans' who require medical attention throughout the country?

Senator Sonny Angara on Thursday urged the Department of Health (DOH) to provide Congress with an inventory of all its medical staff.

"Tingin ko meron talaga dapat na running national inventory. Sa kaso ng DepEd at PNP, yung budget submission nila, klaro doon kung ilang ang kulang na mga guro at mga pulis. Sa DOH, sa 9 na taon ko sa House at 7 taon sa Senado, hindi pa ako nakatisod ng ganitong datos na on an annual basis pinapadala. Wala tayong 'status of health forces' report," Angara said.

The senator noted that for the deployment of Human Resources for Health (HRH) component of the DOH's budget, a total of P2.45 billion was proposed for 2020.

The HRH deploys doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists and other health professionals as a strategy in support to the attainment of universal health care.

"Another P7 billion is lodged within the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefit Fund (MPBF) so coupled with the P2.45 billion, there is P9.45 billion for the DOH-paid doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists to be deployed mostly to poor communities and the countryside," Angara said.

"Ang tanong ngayon ay sapat ba ito? Does this fulfill a major mandate in the Universal Heath Care Law which is to build up and boost our national pool of health professionals?" he added.

As for the P7 billion in the MPBF, Angara noted that this is enough to cover the hiring of 11,614 health professionals.

This includes 744 doctors, of which 400 will be under the Doctors to the Barrios program. The balance of 344 doctors will be for the medical residency programs of the hospitals.

"Ang dentista kulang talaga. 209 lang ang deployed under the HRH program ngayong 2019. Lumalabas na 1 in 7 towns lang meron," the chairman of the Senate committee on finance said.

"Bakit ko na-raise ito? Kasi meron tayong 4,006 new physicians, yung mga kapapasa lang ng board. Di hamak marami sa kanilang gusto magsilbi sa underserved at sa unserved areas," he stressed.

With such a huge number of new doctors, Angara said there should be no problem in terms of supply.