10 Facts about Healthcare in the Philippines

Health care in a country is a fundamental necessities that people need. It was stated in

The World Health Organization (WHO) that a healthcare system must be “well-functioning” that

a quality healthcare provides a disinterested access regardless of aspects in payment while

protecting people from financial repercussion of poor health. Saying these set of standards

Philippines healthcare having a hard time coping up with these terms.

According to (The Borgen Project) an article of (Katelynn Kenworthy, 2017) there are 10

facts on Healthcare in the Philippines:

1. The WHO refers to the Filipino Healthcare System as “fragmented.” There is a history of

unfair and unequal access to health services that significantly affects the poor. The

government spends little money on the program which causes high out of pocket

spending and further widens the gap between rich and poor.

- In the Philippines the so said “equality” may not be associated with the Filipinos.

Well this is mostly affecting the poor, the government doesn’t seem to take actions to

favour some of the poor community. That even a healthcare system is unheeded to the

government.

2. Out of the 90 million people living in the Philippines, many do not get access to basic

care. The country has a high maternal and new-born mortality rate, and a high fertility
 rate. This creates problems for those who have especially limited access to this basic care

or for those living in generally poor health conditions.

- Due to many financial problems that poor community have in the Philippines they

don’t even get access to some basic care. Because of the high maternal mortality

rates in the Philippines this causes some problems of not having some basic care that

these poor people need.

3. Many Filipinos face diseases such as Tuberculosis, Dengue, Malaria and HIV/AIDS.

These diseases pair with protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies that

are becoming increasingly common.

- Having to know that this diseases are a very common thing to Filipinos, Filipinos

should really have some basic care that they need, and fast. Not only giving them

some basic care but also informing the Filipinos to know about these diseases.

4. The population is affected by a high prevalence of obesity along with heart disease.

- These common disease to some obese individuals, they must be inform of the disease

and must also need some basic care.

5. Healthcare in the Philippines suffers from a shortage of human medical resources,

especially doctors. This makes the system run slower and less efficiently.

- That’s why some health centers are getting shut down because the lack of personnel

in the facility. A common thing in the Philippines is that doctors go to abroad and that

leaves the Philippines less of doctors.

6. Filipino families who can afford private health facilities usually choose these as their

primary option. Private facilities provide a better quality of care than the public facilities

that lower income families usually go to. The public facilities tend to be in rural areas

that are more run down. These facilities have less medical staff and inferior supplies.

- The problem in the Philippines is that the facilities that need help and usually the

place where most families go to are the one that are unnoticed by the government, and

the private and high facilities are the one being heeded.

7. Only 30 percent of health professionals employed by the government address the health

needs of the majority. Healthcare in the Philippines suffers because the remaining 70

percent of health professionals work in the more expensive privately run sectors.

- Other than going abroad, some professionals prefer the expensive privately facilities

to work to than in the public facilities. That’s why the health care in public is poor

and very much need of help because of lack of personnel in the facility.

8. To compensate for the inequality, a program called Doctors to the Barrios and its private

sectors decided to build nine cancer centers, eight heart centers and seven transplant

centers in regional medical centers.

- Due to this statement you can see that some people are taking an action to what the

people and to cope up with the basic care of the Filipinos specially the poor.
 9. The Doctors to the Barrios included Public-Private Partnerships in a plan to modernize

the government-owned hospitals and provide more up to date medical supplies.

- Having this to continue over the time this would make the Philippines subsist to its

Healthcare Organization.

10. More than 3,500 public health facilities were updated across the country.

- This is really helping the country to grow and having to help each other on their basic

care. Having to more than 3,500 public health facilities this would make the

Philippines be equal to the other country of basic care.

Even though actions are being made to improve the healthcare in the Philippines, many

issues are still unavoidable, nonetheless the country hasn’t overcome yet to achieve a high

quality and the cost efficient healthcare system.

https://borgenproject.org/healthcare-in-the-philippines/
 Is there a free Healthcare in the Philippines?

Some people may have been saying that the healthcare in the Philippines is almost not

profitable for the benefit of the poor. That people in the poor community doesn’t have enough

money so they couldn’t reach out in hospitals, instead they go to some health centers nearby, but

some people are saying that the health centers are still too much for the poor that some can’t still

afford it. But saying that looking to some facts there are some health centers that are free and

very beneficial for the poor. According to (Lee Flores, 2011)

“Well for me there are a lot of free healthcare in the Philippines. You just need to know
the ins and outs on how to get assistance. Philhealth is not a reliable source of free
healthcare. It is not tecnically free since you are still paying a small amount from your
salary to the government each month. So it is not really free. If you really want free
healthcare assistance you can always go to PCSO. They usually give assistance for
healthcare without spending anything, you just need to a lot more time and patience as
there is also a lot of people trying to avail this. Being a voter of certain City can also give
you free healthcare, a classic example for this is in Makati. Citizens in makati will be
given a yellow card if they are a voter within the city of Makati and they are are treated
for free in Makati’s very own hospital OSMAK which is short for Ospital ng Makati. In
other cities usually offers cash assistance just make sure you are registered voter if not,
you can’t avail any benefits from the city.”

According to him having to know the ins and outs on how and where to get assistance in

the Philippines is so much a big thing to get some basic care for you and for your family.

Philhealth is one of the healthcare of the Philippines but not very beneficial for the poor. Saying

that this is some free healthcare you still have to technically pay some small amount for the

government each month. But in other places some hospitals can still provide some free basic care

for the poor community.

 https://www.quora.com/Is-there-free-healthcare-in-the-Philippines

Overview of devolution of health services in the Philippines

J Grundy, V Healy, L Gorgolon, E Sandig

Rural Remote Health 3 (2), 220, 2003

In 1991 the Philippines Government introduced a major devolution of national

government services, which included the first wave of health sector reform, through the

introduction of the Local Government Code of 1991. The Code devolved basic services for

agriculture extension, forest management, health services, barangay (township) roads and social

welfare to Local Government Units. In 1992, the Philippines Government devolved the

management and delivery of health services from the National Department of Health to locally

elected provincial, city and municipal governments.

Does corruption affect health outcomes in the Philippines?

Omar Azfar, Tugrul Gurgur

Economics of Governance 9 (3), 197-244, 2008

We examine the effect of corruption on health outcomes in the Philippines. We find that

corruption reduces the immunization rates, delays the vaccination of newborns, discourages the

use of public health clinics, reduces satisfaction of households with public health services, and

increases waiting time at health clinics. We also find that corruption affects public services in
rural areas in different ways than urban areas, and that corruption harms the poor more than the

wealthy.

The demand for primary health care services in the Bicol region of the Philippines

John S Akin, Charles C Griffin, David K Guilkey, Barry M Popkin

Economic Development and Cultural Change 34 (4), 755-782, 1986

Introduction The strategies selected to provide health services to rural areas in lowincome

countries are motivated in part by the following commonly held assumptions about existing

health conditions and medical service demand patterns in such countries:(1) many Third World

health problems are thought to be susceptible to elementary types of care and simple drugs that

can be supplied by paraprofessionals;(2) conventional modern medical resources are thought to

be located primarily in urban areas and therefore to be inaccessible to rural households; and (3)

the economic aspects of the demand for medical care-income, time costs, and cash costs-are

thought to be extremely important deterrents to using medical services. The idea that simple

interventions, usually of a preventive type, will solve many rural health problems is probably

incontrovertible.

Sources:

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/451558?journalCode=edcc
 https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/31496926/Phillipines_2003.pdf?AW

SAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1550414548&Signature=3IUGHfCd

W3nd4%2FlpHfCVs8V3OVI%3D&response-content-

disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DPhillipines_2003.pdf

Title: Health Center Guide to Emergency Preparedness

Date acquired: January 7, 2019

Has the Health Center prepared back up plans for its operations after unexpected

incidents?

According to the Mid-Atlantic Association of Community Health Centers "After an

emergency, the health center needs to have established agreements and protocols to address

issues". Some of these are the replenishment of supplies, recovery of the health center facilities,

and return of its normal operations. The administrators should have set recovery plans and

organized the distribution of work and schedule for the Health Center staffs so it could go back

to its normal operation within a short span of time.

https://www.machc.com/content/health-center-guide-emergency-preparedness
Title: An Evaluation of Primary Healthcare Centers (PHC) Services: The Views of Users

Authors: Tariq Ali M Alzaied and Abdurrahman Alshammari

Date Published: February 20, 2016

Date Acquired: January 7, 2019

Primary health care (PHC) was first envisioned by the World Health Organization in the

latter years of 1970's who aimed to focus and solve the causes of poor health care which are; lack

of access to Healthcare facilities, poverty and etc.The World Health Organization issued the

"Alma Ata Declaration in 1978. It emphasized that Primary Health Care is the way to have a

higher and improved standard of health for every person by the year 2000. This declaration states

that primary health care is essential health care based from socially and scientifically proven

methods. Gillam pointed out that Primary Health Care is a primary platform in extending help

for vulnerable groups and different communities. This declaration also states that Primary Health

Care is the first connection of the people to the Health scheme. It is also believed that the cost

efficiency of health care would be improved if Primary Health Care would be the focus.

http://www.hsj.gr/medicine/an-evaluation-of-primary-healthcare-centers-phc-services-

the-views-of-users.php?aid=8770

Healthcare in the Philippines

The World Health Organization (WHO) was made in 1948 with a definitive point of

making possible the fulfillment by all individuals the highest level of well-being-" not just the

nonappearance of diseases, but rather health as a condition of complete physical, mental and
social welfare." This is specifically concrete in its preface when it says, "The satisfaction in the

most achievable standard of wellbeing is one of the key privileges of each person without

distinction of religion, political conviction, race, monetary or social condition." (Azurin, 1988)

Health centers workers in the Philippines have high standards but the facilities have a lot

more to improve, Private hospital provides new equipment and better facilities. Filipino medical

staffs migrates to other country and that leads us to the reason of insufficient medical workers,

that cause delays in patients therapy and treatment. Phil health is a medical health care that is

mandatory, even though it helps the patients financially it does not cover all the expenses.