Strengthen commitment to achieve goals: new PhilHealth head

(PNA photo)

MANILA–Newly appointed Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhiHealth) chief Roy Ferrer on Tuesday called on the board members to strengthen their commitment and resolve to help achieve agency’s goals.

“Let us now summon our collective talents and dedication, and utilize the resultant synergy for the great mission that we are mandated to do,” Ferrer said during their first special Board meeting after he took over the post at the PhilHealth main office in Pasig City.

Ferrer replaced Celestina Ma. Jude de la Serna as acting president of PhilHealth after the latter was flagged by the Commission on Audit for excessive travel and hotel accommodation expenses.

In the meeting, he told the Board members that there is a need to look into how can they bring back the trust of the stakeholders in PhilHealth after the controversies during his predecessor.

“We can look at this situation from a positive perspective. These so-called problems can be turned into opportunities to change for the better, ” he said.

He also asked the Board members to pursue three thrusts essential in achieving the goals under universal health care —financial risk protection through expansion in enrolment and benefit delivery of the National Health Insurance Program; improved access to quality hospitals and health care facilities; and attainment of health-related Millennium Development Goals.

Ferrer holds a Master of Science Degree in Internal Medicine, major in Diabetology from the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Medical Center’s Institute for Studies on Diabetes Foundation. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology from the Ateneo de Davao University and his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Davao Medical School Foundation in 1990.

Prior to his first appointment to PhilHealth as Board member in January 2017, he was president of Central Lab Diabetes Wellness, Heart and Kidneys, Inc. from 2010 to 2014, and became its Chief Finance Officer from 2015 to 2016. He was also the president of the Southern Mindanao Chapter of the Philippine Society of Medical Specialists Inc.

in Government Service.

He also became a director of the Mindanao Diabetes Center of the Southern Philippines Medical Center, a Board member of the Stroke Society of the Philippines’ Southern Mindanao Chapter for about four years, and president of the Diabetes Philippines’ Southern Mindanao Chapter from 2009 to 2012. It was during his time when the Davao Chapter was awarded the Best Diabetes Chapter by Diabetes Philippines.