Despite the burgeoning Health budget and the rising PhilHealth coverage, the country’s healthcare system continues to deteriorate owing to the shortage of healthcare workers caused by massive migration.
Dr. Anthony Leachon, PhilHealth Independent Director, noted that while Health budget has increased from P30 billion in 2010 to P205 billion in 2015, the delivery of health services and compensation of healthcare professionals remain pathetically low.
This led to massive migration or exodus of doctors and nurses to greener pasture abroad, he said.
“But can you blame them?” asked Leachon as he lamented President Aquino’s veto of the proposed measure which sought an increase in the salary of public nurses.
“We respect President Benigno Aquino’s decision to veto nurses’ pay hike but his latest action depicts a poor appreciation of the healthcare system and pervasive lack of compassion and empathy to the plight of healthcare professionals and the Filipino patients,” stressed Leachon, also president of the Philippine College of Physicians’ Foundation Inc.
Leachon said we have a “human health resource crisis “now despite the country being the number one exporters of nurses in the world and the number two exporters of doctors in the world next to India.
He said the number of Filipinos who die without seeing a healthcare worker—doctor, nurse, dentist, or a midwife, has increased to as high as 66 percent.
He also said that although Philhealth coverage has increased, its utlization rate is poor at 33 percent among the poor due to the huge out of pocket expenses at 57 percent. In contrast, PhilHealth utilization among the richest was pegged at 88 percent.
With the spectrum of services and benefits of PhilHealth increasing with the sin tax funds, Leachon said “we are faced with a shortage of healthcare workers who will see these poor patients particularly in the countryside. “
He said the sin tax funds did not include a provision for a National Workforce Plan that will align the salary and compensation of all healthcare workers to meet the needs of the times.
The PhilHealth officer also said the current shortage of doctors particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao or in the poorest areas in the Philippines.
In the public sector, he said there are five healthcare workers per 10,000 population (ideal – 25). There is 1 healthcare worker per 20,000 ( ideal is 20 ).
“We will need more healthcare workers such as doctors, nurses, dentists and midwives as the Duterte administration and incoming Health secretary Paulyn Ubial push for the one-doctor-per barangay scheme which is the basic concept of primary care system,” Leachon said.