Duque seeks P10-B add'l budget for health facilities in 2021

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has appealed for an additional P10-billion budget for the Department of Health’s Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) for the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) law.

Duque made the call during the budget hearing on the DOH’s proposed P127-billion budget for 2021 before the House appropriations panel on Friday.

“We sent a letter to the Honorable Speaker [Alan Cayetano] with regard to our request of augmenting the approved budget on HFEP with an additional P10 billion,” Duque said.

“We are requesting this to address the concerns of several members of Congress on additional support for improving the infrastructure of our hospitals, rural health units, LGU hospitals, health care facilities, as well as military hospitals, especially that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the functionality of our infrastructure and implementation of UHC law,” he added.

Duque said that the DOH submitted a budget of P45 billion for HFEP for 2021 last June, but only P4.7 billion was approved and a P5.5 billion under unprogrammed fund, the release of which is dependent on the government's "sin tax" collection.

Of the DOH’s proposed P169-billion budget for 2021, P38.9 billion was earmarked for the implementation of the UHC law.

According to DOH Undersecretary Mario Villaverde, at least 58 provinces and highly urbanized cities have been listed as UHC integration sites for 2021, a number unchanged from current year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The P38.9 billion is on top of the P71 billion for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), a state-run insurance corporation, for the implementation of UHC law. —KBK, GMA News