Prioritizing the implementation of Universal Health Care and Cancer Care Laws
July 27, 2020
In a Pulse Asia survey at the end of 2019, Filipinos ranked “to stay healthy and avoid illnesses” as the top Most Urgent Personal Concern at 61%. This study was conducted before the outbreak of the Wuhan virus. Clearly, government must take immediate action to prioritize the improvement of our national healthcare capabilities.
The pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of our healthcare systems in implementing an effective national response to large-scale public health issues. The state of the Philippine healthcare system as it was before the pandemic placed it in a position of disadvantage. Thus the urgent need to address the lack of staff, facilities, and appropriate equipment.
One clear solution is to ramp up our investments in advanced technologies. The health sector has to accelerate its digital transformation by operationalizing new modes of delivering services through online health technologies. Simultaneously, we need to build up our strength in Internet connectivity by fast-tracking the construction of much need digital infrastructures.
On more concrete and direct steps, government has to reprioritize budget allocation in existing healthcare laws such as the Universal Health Care Act and the National Integrated Cancer Control Act. These laws will enable the development of a nationwide ecosystem that ensures efficient delivery of health services for all citizens. Without sustainable funding and appropriate resources, these laws will just be pretty ideas printed in paper instead of facilitating the building of a truly resilient and accessible health system for all Filipinos.
Such legislation, properly applied, will help every Filipino in overcoming the crisis that we collectively face. It will also bolster the overall public health condition, allowing Filipinos to continue pursuing their jobs and moving our economy forward.
CitizenWatch Philippines strongly urges our legislators to prioritize the adequate funding of the Universal Health Care and National Integrated Cancer Control Acts to address the problems of our health system. We must learn from the hard lessons that we are now grappling with to survive this pandemic. The government’s budget priorities must be realigned toward the implementation of our health care laws.
Orlando Oxales
Convenor, CitizenWatch Philippines