3.5 Billion cut to Health Facilities

Press Statement of Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Ralph G. Recto

August 30, 2023

Pirmado na ng Pangulo ang batas na magtatayo ng mga Specialty Centers sa mga piling DOH hospitals.

Kung hindi ‘yan mapopondohan sa 2024 budget, ibig sabihin sa 2025 pa ang implementasyon n’yan.

If that happens, then it is akin to a patient who will stay in the emergency room for a long time while waiting to be admitted.

As these units will handle 17 specializations, from heart to lung to kidney, the Medical Specialty Centers Law has “Do not delay” written all over it.

The law is like a doctor’s prescription that must be filled – now, for the sake of patients who see it as their salvation.

Meron pong Health Facility Enhancement Fund (HFEP) sa national budget. It’s a regular feature of annual health expenditures.

Ngunit ang malungkot ay para sa taong 2024, ang HFEP ay kinaltasan ng P3.82 billion. Mula sa kasalukuyang P26.81 billion, naging P22.98 billion para sa susunod na taon.

Funding the Specialty Centers Act can probably begin by restoring the P3.82 billion cut.

Tatlong kategorya ang nasa HFEP : Infrastructure, Medical Equipment at Motor Vehicle.

Top to bottom ang tatanggap : Mula malalaking medical centers na direktang pinangangasiwaan ng DOH hanggang sa barangay.

For DOH-run hospitals, its share in the HFEP 2024 is P12.72 billion : P8.19 billion in infrastructure, P4.53 billion in equipment, zero for motor vehicle.

May bahay na po sa national budget na pwedeng buhusan ng dagdag pondo para ipatupad ang Medical Specialty Centers Law.

In fact, DOH hospitals in which the specialty centers will be established have specific, line-item funding in the HFEP.

What the House can do is simply augment it.