QUIRINO, Philippines – Health Secretary Enrique T. Ona in his visit here recently has urged the provincial government to include the new health programs of the Department of Health, in addition to its services under the Q-CARE or Building a Healthy Community, the Quirino Way.
Ona said the Barangay Health Stations should list down all poor families to make sure that they will be included in the government’s social insurance, the Philhealth.
These families, Sec. Ona said must know that they are enrolled in Philhealth and they must be informed where to go, either in Rural Health Units or district hospitals when they get sick.
Sec. Ona likewise said there must be evaluation of what illnesses these families have especially among the parents so that they will be diagnosed early, stressing that P500.00 of the P2,400 premiums paid for these families is returned back to the communities for the early treatment of illnesses.
Through the sin tax, Ona said ultrasound tests, ct scan and other tests requiring no confinement which are not at the moment covered by Phlhealth will be catered through the medical assistance plan. Around P 3.2 billion was given to DOH for test examinations, he added.
He also disclosed that an ongoing program for reducing maternal mortality will be made available to most if not all RHUs with birthing facilities, where the rural health physicians will be trained to do maternal ultrasound test.
“For about 150,000 which will be paid for by the community, the doctor can be trained for two weeks then he can go back to the community together with the machine so that he can already do ultrasound examination among the pregnant mothers. Possible complications can be recognized and diagnosed earlier and patients can be referred to higher leveel like the Qurino Province Medical Center (QPMC),” Ona said.
Ona who was in the province for the inauguration of the QPMC has expressed his full support to the province’s vision of making the said health facility into a level 3 health hospital
