A lawmaker is pushing for the passage of a bill providing “equitable” distribution of health workers in the country.
Citing the insufficiency of medical professionals in the country, Bayanihan Party-list Rep. Anthony Golez Jr. said more doctors and health workers could finally reach underserved areas in the Philippines and realize universal healthcare for more Filipinos under his Mandatory Medical Service Bill.
“Almost all doctors are in urban areas,” Golez, a “barrio doctor” with more than 20 years in public health service himself, pointed out, as he lamented the limited number of Filipinos doctors serving in in rural areas.
“The most important thing about this bill is that we will equitably distribute our doctors to areas that do not have them,” he said.
Previously, in a meeting with the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations, Department of Health (DOH) Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire admitted that the country is in need of 178,000 nurses and 114,000 physicians.
Golez’s proposed bill mandates that new doctors, after passing the medical board exams and before receiving their certificate of registration, render one year of service in a government hospital or health facility. This measure, according to the lawmaker, will see the success of the Universal Health Care program, specifically the tenets of equity to health care access, and the provision to formulate quality policies based on the needs of the population.
“For Universal Health Care to be successful, we need to have doctors in far-flung places, in our barrios and rural communities, so we can equitably provide our services,” Golez said.
“With the lack of these health-care workers, our country’s going to find achieving universal healthcare difficult,” he added. The bill also seeks to improve the experience for doctors in public service, with more plantilla positions, higher pay, and more benefits.
The measure includes addressing current training schemes for neophyte doctors and nurses, where many testify to having to pay hospitals to gain work experience.
“Most of the time, they do not receive wages, and actually pay out of their pockets to practice and find training in hospitals,” Golez said, “It’s a painful situation for us: those who serve are also the ones who have to pay hospitals.”
In the same meeting, the lawmaker also flagged the unused P7-billion DOH funds for plantilla positions, and advocated for its proper spending and utilization to fill the gaps in public healthcare.
Golez’s Mandated Medical Service bill seeks to take this advocacy further, with more doctors “serving the public for one year, with a plantilla position for them, wages, and benefits to receive.”