DOH earmarks P38.9B budget for implementation of Universal Healthcare law in 2021

The Department of Health has earmarked P38.9 billion for the implementation of the Universal Healthcare (UHC) law in 2021.

This was presented by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III during the pre-budget conference before the House Committee on Health on Tuesday. 

Of the P38.9 billion, P16.58 billion will be for deployment of 23,364 human resources for health (HRH) and 3,492 scholarship grants.

The HRH includes doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, pharmacists, nutritionists-dietitians, medical technologists and physical therapists.

The P16.58 billion allocation for HRH for 2021 was almost double the 2019 budget for the item which only reached P9.95 billion.

The second highest allocation under UHC implementation at P10 billion was given to the national immunization program. Of this amount, P2.5 billion will be used for the purchase of anti-COVID-19 vaccines for medical frontliners in public hospitals, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Corrections, Department of Education, Department of Social Welfare and Development, uniformed personnel in the police and military as well as indigent senior citizens.

The P10 billion budget for the national immunization in 2021 was P2.46 billion more than the P7.54 billion allocation for the same item this year. 

The Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) under the UHC implementation, on the other hand, got a P4.78 billion budget—almost a 50% reduction from the 2020 budget of P8.38 billion. 

The HFEP’s P4.78 billion budget is broken down into P4.6 billion for the procurement of equipment of 1,633 health facilities, P25 million for ambulances and P82 million for monitoring and evaluation activities. 

In addition, the DOH also proposed a P4.65 billion budget for the prevention and control of other infectious diseases, including P2.67 billion for the purchase of personal protective equipment and P1.03 billion for buying GeneXpert COVID-19 cartridges. 

The DOH identified the implementation of the UHC law as Priority 1. 

The P38.9 billion proposed budget for the implementation of the UHC law, however, does not include the P71 billion budget for the Phillippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) also for the implementation of the UHC measure. —KG, GMA News