MANILA – In line with the goal to make the Universal Health Care Agenda of the Aquino administration a reality for the poorest Filipino people, the Department of Health (DOH) partnered on Friday with two other major government agencies to speed up the delivery of vital health services in remote communities.
The DOH, through Secretary Janette L. Garin, sealed the partnership with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Education (DepEd) headed by Secretary Manuel “Mar”” Roxas II and Secretary Armin Luistro, respectively, during the National Health Summit held at the Marriott Hotel in Pasay City.
Under the partnership, the three agencies will be paving the way for making “School-Based Health Stations” and “Dental Health Buses” available to public schools in the remote communities where there are no available barangay health stations or clinics.
Secretary Luistro lauded the partnership by saying that such can be a great help to the school children and their families as well.
He cited that the partnership with the DOH and the DILG is something that will really complement the need of public schools in the country facing the problem of having no deployed school doctors and nurses.
For her part, Secretary Garin said that through the School-Based Health Stations and Dental Health Buses, both the children and their family members, like their parents and even their grandparents, can avail of different health services such as preventive health check-ups, tooth extractions and other dental needs.
Under the partnership, the DepEd will be providing the venue while the DOH will be providing the equipment and the manpower such as doctors, nurses and dentists that will be deployed.
Dr. Garin added that the primary goal of the projects is to encourage the children and their families to enjoy the benefits or the fruits of better health care services being made available to the poorest Filipino people under the High Impact Five (Hi-5) Programs of the DOH.
She described the DepEd as a “twin brother/sister” which can complement the DOH goal in fulfilling the task of making the health services available to the poorest community which should not be left behind in terms of the health services reaped through the goal of “Kalusugang Pangkalahatan” or Universal Health Care Program.
She added that what is so good with the project is that the mothers of the children, while waiting to fetch them from school, can also utilize the health services within the facility and be served by health specialists in the pre- and post-natal care, immunization, cervical cancer screening or even dental services.
In addition, such health stations will serve as “rural health units” (RHUs) of the barangays or communities still without these facilities.
Other different services being offered under the High Impact Five Programs launched several months ago will be continuously available through the “School-Based Health Stations” and “Dental Buses,” the DOH chief said.
The high impact programs consist of maternal health care, infant care, HIV/AIDs free screening and counseling, and service delivery network.
In his keynote address, DILG Secretary Roxas said that the initiative of the DOH showcases its team’s efforts in ensuring that the health services are brought down to the target communities which really need better health services under the “Tuwid na Daan” agenda of the Aquino administration.