COVID-19 reveals need for Philippines to triple health expenditures—expert

The Philippines must spend more on health care investments moving forward from the pandemic, according to a health expert on Friday.

During a virtual forum on COVID-19's impact on the healthcare delivery in Southeast Asia, Dr. Ramy Roxas, director of the Philippine College of Surgeons Cancer Commission, pointed out that inequitable access to health care and insufficient manpower in the sector are already issues in the country prior to the pandemic.

The pandemic has been met with a lack of a centralized inter-hospital response, the limited capacity for testing and contact tracing, and significant strain on hospital manpower, he said.

"The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is also at risk because of the increased need for coverage and the implementation of the Universal Health Care Act," he added.

PhilHealth recently recommended to postpone the implementation of the Universal Health Care law, noting the drop in collections due to COVID-19.

Nonetheless, it assured that it has enough funds to sustain operations this year amid the pandemic.

Roxas pointed out that in 2018, the total health expenditures in the country increased and amounted to 4.6% of GDP but was still below the ideal spending.

Based on data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the total health expenditure for that year amounted to P799.1 billion—the lion's share of which are household out-of-pocket payments at 53.9%, followed by health spending through government schemes at 34%, and voluntary health care payment schemes at 12.2%.

"Understanding what the pandemic has exposed, we do need to increase total health expenditure by two to three times of current level. Perhaps, 8 to 12% of GDP," Roxas said.

"We have to strengthen the ability of the national government to respond to this crisis across all hospitals," he added.

He, nonetheless, acknowledged that this would not be an easy feat, especially as the pandemic also caused an economic downturn.

"The economy has taken a hit and that's going to impact on the delivery of services," Roxas said.

Last month, the Department of Health proposed a P182-billion budget for 2021 to implement the Universal Health Care law.

'Collateral damage'

Roxas said the COVID-19 pandemic worsened the condition of patients with other illnesses such as cancer because the situation prevented them from getting timely and proper medical interventions.

The same concern has been raised by the Philippine General Hospital's Cancer Institute last week.

Aside from cancer, other chronic illnesses are expected to surge next year, according to Dr. Shamik Dasgupta, vice president of medical technology company Cryolife.

"A lot of the hospitals are focusing on COVID. The non-COVID conditions are going many times unnoticed and untreated. The chronic conditions will manifest I think in the later part of the year or early next year," he said.

Among these chronic diseases that are expected to increase are diabetes and hypertension which usually surface overtime when left undiagnosed.

Mental issues and economic burnout are also expected to affect the people in the coming months.

As of July 24, the COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surpassed 76,000 with 24,502 recoveries and 1,879 deaths. -MDM, GMA News