Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III on Tuesday vowed to hit the ground running on the unfinished Universal Health Care bill, which has been pending in Congress.
In his first media briefing after returning to the Department of Health, Duque promised to prioritize the review of the UHC.
He said reforms of both the DoH and the Philippine Health Corp. or PhilHealth “must be grounded on the reality of finite resources and funds to ensure that health spending brings the biggest impact and quality health care to majority of Filipinos and assure actuarial solvency for future generations.”
Duque also affirmed he would continue the priority health programs begun by his predecessor Paulynn Ubial under the Philippine Health Agenda.
“These elements will be merged with a strategic approach through the revitalization of our flagship program, the FOURmula One, with a new tagline: Boosting Universal Health Care via FOURmula One Plus,” otherwise known as F1 Plus, he added.
The secretary also guaranteed to make the health reform agenda “much more transparent, inclusive, coordinative, and synergistic” with the efforts of both public and private sector partners, especially the local government units, enabling the DOH to hit the ground running by 2018 and make health services more felt by Filipinos, especially the poor.
Duque will likewise push public hospitals to improve their effectiveness, efficiency, responsiveness, and quality of health services to patients through enforcing the Anti-Red Tape Act and working with the Civil Service Commission—which he previously chaired—through the Contact Center ng Bayan (8888 Hotline) to address patient feedbacks and complaints on the services of public hospitals.
“There are high expectations and greater challenges with a much bigger budget of P165 billion now than when we started with a P10-billion budget in 2005. The DOH equally has a huge responsibility and accountability to the Filipino people,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration will submit a report containing the data, scientific, and technical advice on its reevaluation of 51 contraceptives for the DOH’s review soon, Office of Health Regulations Undersecretary Mario Villaverde said Tuesday.
A technical working group at the FDA has consolidated the data, which is being reviewed by the bureau’s Office of the Director-General, Villaverde said in a briefing at the DOH offices in Manila.
The mandated FDA review of the non-abortifacient or abortifacient quality of the contraceptives, subject to a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court since 2015, would be resolved soon, according to the Commission on Population or Popcom.
Esperanza Cabral, the former health secretary who is chair of the National Implementation Team for the Reproductive Health Act, said it would be the third time the FDA would be issuing a certification the contraceptives reviewed are non-abortifacients.
FDA Director General Nela Charade Puno said in October the bureau’s reevaluation was “aboveboard and transparent,” had “solid technical and scientific bases,” and that the contraceptives “will be made accessible to the public.”
Malacañang expects the TRO on the contraceptives tagged as abortifacients to be lifted for the full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law.
In another development, Duque said he approves of the use of medical marijuana for research purposes only and not for any other uses.
Saying he sees no problem in the “compassionate use” of medical marijuana, he noted that research has shown cannabis oil can be proven effective against seizures.
“It is supposed to be for compassionate use. So there must be very narrow applicability and must be strictly regulated,” said Duque.
Using medical marijuana for research purposes is already allowed by the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, he noted.