The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) defended the budget cuts in several programs of the Department of Health (DOH) under the proposed P5.268 trillion 2023 national budget, saying the national government is in a “tight fiscal position” and they needed to prioritize programs and projects based on available budget.
In a news statement issued on Wednesday, the budget department explained that the lower proposed budget for next year for the Epidemiology and Surveillance Program already excluded the other proposed items that were not ready for implementation.
“The National Expenditure Program (NEP) budget level for the Epidemiology and Surveillance Program for FY 2023 pertains to budget proposal which were substantiated with details by the DOH. Other items proposed for these programs were not supported with details and hence, had been considered as not yet ready for implementation,” the DBM said.
The DBM issued the statement after opposition lawmaker House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro raised alarm over the “massive” budget cuts to the Epidemiology and Surveillance Program, Health Regulatory Program, Public Health Program, and the Health Emergency Management Program.
Castro pointed out that the budget for regions for the Epidemiology and Surveillance Program was slashed by P115 million, contrary to President’s pronouncement during his first State of the Nation Address that the administration will boost the monitoring and surveillance capacity of the health system in the country.
Apart from the Epidemiology and Surveillance Program, the lawmaker said the budgets for the Health Emergency Management Program and the Health Regulatory Program were slashed by 13.25 percent and 13.22 percent, respectively.
Moreover, key items addressing the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Public Health Program also had lower proposed budgets, including the Covid-19 Laboratory Network Commodities (down by P7.92 billion), Covid-19 Human Resources for Health Emergency Hiring (down by P4.33 billion), and the Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases (down by P4.17 billion).
Castro also expressed concern that the procurement of Covid-19 vaccine booster shots is “now defunded” under the proposed budget for next year.
For its part, the DBM explained the decrease in the provision for Public Health Management was “due to its low utilization rate,” which was “only at 76.7 percent” in 2021.
“When DBM allocates budget, it also takes into consideration the utilization rate of the agency,” it said.
Meanwhile, the decrease in the budget level for the Prevention and Control of Communicable diseases was due to the lower funding requested by DOH for personal protective equipment (PPE) – from P5.304 billion in FY 2022 to P1.020 billion for FY 2023.
“According to DOH, the procurement of PPEs was already transferred directly to the hospitals,” it said.
Likewise, the DOH also proposed a P752.341 million budget for the Health Emergency Program, which is lower by P61.484 million compared to FY 2022 budget of P813.8 million, according to DBM.
As for the decrease in the Health Regulatory Program’s budget, the DBM attributed this to the P4.7 million congressional adjustment in FY 2022 General Appropriations Act, which was not considered for FY 2023.
The budget department added that no allocation was provided for next year’s proposed budget for Covid-19 Human Resource for Health Emergency Hiring given that the funding requirements for vaccinators will be chargeable against the local government unit budget.
On the zero provision for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccine boosters, the DBM said there is a P22 billion standby fund provided for vaccines under Unprogrammed Appropriations.
However, Unprogrammed Appropriations can only be tapped when revenue collections exceed targets or when additional foreign funds are generated.
Despite the tight fiscal position, the DBM said the health sector received a 10.4 percent budget increase at P296.3 billion in the proposed 2023 national budget. This includes the budgets of the DOH and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation.
“At any rate, the DBM yields to the collective wisdom of the honorable members of Congress if they find it meritorious to increase further the budget of the DOH as budget deliberations, hearings, and debates are being held this season,” it said. -30-
Image credits: Official Gazette