Are We Really Okay? The Status of Health Care System in the Philippines

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The status of health care in the Philippines on the surface can be considered as ‘okay’ if you will compare it among the other health care system around the world. It is true that the Philippines’ health care system is not a great health care provider unlike Europe or the US but it is also not that far behind with other health care providers among South-east Asian countries. In an analysis made the World Health Organization, the health care system of the Philippines has ranked 60 as among 191 countries.

The Private Sector

The health care system in the Philippines is a mixed public-private system. If we will look closely at the current health care system, where it stands right now can be partly credited to the private health care providers in the country. Private health care services are well-established and continue to grow in the Philippines through specialist clinics and private hospitals. Compared to the public sector of health care service, the private sector is a lot larger in terms of human, financial, and technological resources.

The Public Sector

The public sector of health care is doing as much as it can as well to provide for the people especially for the poor. As a matter of fact, the current administration has increased the budget allotted for health care. The Department of Health has received a 19% increase from 2016, receiving P149.5 billion this 2017 (including PhilHealth). Assistance to Indigent Patients acquired a massive boost of 40%, boosting its 2.8 billion allocation to 4 billion this 2017. There is also a P1.5 billion budget allocation for the Doctors to the Barrio program, construction of additional health facilities, and medical assistance to indigent patients.

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Criticisms

But despite these budget increases in the health care sector and the aid of private health care providers in the country, there are still some criticisms about the health care system in the Philippines.

First, is that health care is still centered in the urban areas. In the rural areas, there are still instances wherein patients only get to see health workers who can only provide them medicine for common diseases like fever, cold, and flu. Pregnant women mostly rely on hilot and there are no health experts to monitor the children’s health because health care is absent or inaccessible, physically and financially.

Another criticism on health care not only here in the Philippines, but mostly in the South East Asia is that there has been a constant shortage of medical personnel. This can be attributed to the economy as most medical personnel prefer to work abroad where they will be better compensated. According to the Philippine HRH Master Plan and Nursing Workforce Management of the Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies, University of the Philippines Manila-National Institutes of Health, in 2012, 221,323 out of 421,467 nurses who passed the Board were unemployed.

With all these data and criticism being laid out, we may think about what is the real score of the health care system in the Philippines. Are we really okay?

Sources:

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=philippine-health-care-system-from-bad-to-worse&id=125029
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/111015/can-you-trust-philippines-healthcare-system.asp
http://business.inquirer.net/210155/ph-healthcare-industry-set-for-growth
http://www.imoney.ph/health-insurance
https://www.allianzworldwidecare.com/en/support/view/national-healthcare-systems/healthcare-in-philippines/