DAVAO CITY—National and local health delegates convened on Jan. 30 – 31, 2023 in this city during the 1st Universal Health Care (UHC) Summit to assess the full implementation of UHC in the Bangsamoro region.
UHC will help ensure that every Filipino is healthy, protected from health hazards and risks, and has access to affordable, quality, and available health services that are suitable to the needs of the people, in accordance with Republic Act 11223 signed by former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte in 2019.
The 1st BARMM UHC Summit and Stakeholders Forum was participated by the health practitioners from the Department of Health (DOH), Ministry of Health (MOH), with the cities and provincial health officials, and other development partners such as the World Health Organization (WHO)World Bank, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), University Research Co. (URC), International Organization for Migration (IOM), and Mindanao Organization for Social and Economic Progress (MOSEP).
MOH Minister Dr. Rizaldy Piang emphasized the summit goal is to share experiences with the other UHC implementers from Baguio City, Maguindanao, and Basilan province to evaluate the gaps, challenges, and good practices.
Piang revealed that the implementation of the National government of the UHC law in the BARMM region, wherein the province of Basilan and Maguindanao served as ‘integration sites’, is almost 100% when it comes to the preparatory phase.
In fact, the region is in the organizational phase and can able to keep up with other regions in the implementation of the UHC law— which integrate all health institutions from barangay health, rural health unit, private lying clinics, and public hospitals for better delivery of health services.
In his video message, BARMM Chief Minister Ahod Ebrahim was optimistic that the summit will provide knowledge and skills for health practitoners in the region to improve the performance in terms of health care services, which will ultimately benefit the Bangsamoro people.
“It is important that we highlight milestones and achieve the vision and mission of the Bangsamoro Government for the Bangsamoro people—a healthcare system they truly deserve,” Ebrahim said.
This past year, despite of Covid-19 pandemic in the country, especially in the BARMM, the regional government continuously augments health services needed by the Bangsamoro people.
According to DOH Undersecretary Dr. Abdullah Dumama Jr., the Department has seen the BARMM flourished and improve in the past years, noting, “I can assure you that the support of DOH is always with you (BARMM).”
He further said, “kayo po ang primary concern every now and then. Kapag po hindi nasasali si BARMM, I make sure to raise my hand, stand up, and say—BARMM is still in the Philippines, so please, include BARMM in the loop.” (Myrna Tepadan/BIO)
