By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
BACOLOD City – The provincial government of Negros Occidental will hold a Provincial Health Summit on November 24, 2022 in preparation for the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Program of the national government.
Provincial health officer (PHO) Dr. Ernell Tumimbang said the summit was one of the matters discussed during a meeting held on Friday, Sept. 23.
Based on the plans, the UHC Program must be fully-implemented by 2023, and some of the matters that needed to be worked on include identifying health care providers and the formation of a provincial health board which will manage the special health fund.
Tumimbang also pointed out that the UHC Program must also be discussed to the province’s 31 local government units.
Speakers from the Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) are expected to attend the health summit.
To recall, on February of 2019 then President Rodrigo Duterte signed the UHC Act into law to give equal access to quality and cheap healthcare services to all Filipinos.
The law would also automatically enroll all Filipino citizens to the National Health Insurance Program, further increasing PhilHealth’s coverage which include free medical consultations and laboratory tests./PN
