On February 2, the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) met with Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique Ona at his office in Manila. This was the eleventh of a series of meetings with key cabinet officials to present the recommendations of the JFC advocacy paper entitled “Arangkada Philippines 2010: A Business Perspective,” a copy of which was given to the secretary.
Secretary Ona identified three goals of the department: (1) achieve Universal Healthcare particularly focusing funds on the two lowest and poorest income quintiles; (2) improve facilities in regional and provincial government hospitals; and (3) strengthen government’s capacity of bringing affordable drugs to the barangay level.
The poorest Filipinos are not granted insurance coverage through the state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) for their lack of resources to pay the PhP 100 premium, insufficient documents, and limited access when they live in far flung rural areas. The secretary explained the government will direct funds to provide PhilHealth coverage to the 5 million families belonging to two lowest income quintiles. The DSWD is assisting the department in this program through Conditional Cash Transfers.
The Health Department aims to reduce infant and maternal mortality by improving health facilities such as birthing capabilities in more communities. The secretary reported, “Previously, the government anticipated that the targets on infant and maternal mortality reduction in the UN Millennium Development Goals will be missed, but in the Aquino administration this will not happen.”
The department has already submitted its financial mobility plan for the next five years to President Aquino. To modernize the 72 DOH hospitals and medical centers, large funding is required which will principally come from the private sector through Public-Private Partnerships. “PPP is a relatively new concept to the department. Traditional PPP projects mostly involved transportation infrastructure. We would need your help on this,” Secretary Ona told the group.
The JFC highlighted the potential of medical tourism and retirement in attracting more investment and generating high quality jobs. The secretary believes in the potential of the two sub-sectors. However, he explained there is a need to correct the public perception that “the prioritization of medical travel and retirement may divert government’s attention from improving health services to the poor.” He said, “the public must be helped to understand that the income generated from these sectors will eventually trickle down to the poor and government revenue generated will be earmarked to pay for the health insurance of the poor.”
The JFC explained, “The patient should be protected from point of arrival to the time of departure.” They commended the creation of a medical tourism visa which allows patients to stay for 6 months in the country. However, there should be a basic policy of allowing such patients to stay longer if their medical condition requires it.
“On the hospital side, there is a lack of transparency in doctor’s fees and procedures. If we do not address that, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand will walk away with the market,” commented ECCP EVP Schumacher. There is a need to impose guidelines on how to make doctor fees transparent. Legislation requiring stricter rules on doctor-patient privacy and harsher punishment for medical malpractice is required.
The JFC recommended that the government pursue bilateral negotiations of public insurance portability. For many foreign patients, their health insurance cannot be used outside their home country. The same should be done for retirement benefits.
To attract more foreign patients, hospitals in the country should partner with hospitals in the target markets to create a facility that would allow them to easily exchange patient data. Doctors can explore IT solutions such as telemedicine to facilitate this.
Issues on medical tourism and retirement have also been discussed in other venues. The American, European, Japanese, and Korean Chambers of Commerce formed the Retirement and Healthcare Coalition to identify the needed reforms to grow these sectors. The secretary proposed to meet with them soon to discuss the specific recommendations.
On the Reproductive Health bill, Secretary Ona is hopeful that it be passed this year. The secretary, who is part of a negotiating panel, is confident that they can have a reasonable discussion with the Church. The bill promotes responsible parenthood and, if passed, will ensure that the family is aware of the need for responsible parenting and receives government assistance for the informed choices on family size by parents.
No comments:
Post a Comment