CITY OF KORONADAL — South Cotabato Governor Reynaldo S. Tamayo Jr. assures his full support to the newly enacted Universal Health Care (UC) Law or Republic Act 11223 as the province’s Technical Working Group (TWG) and Committee members conducted a Provincial UHC Implementation Plan Workshop at The Farm @ Carpenter Hill here on February 6-7.
The Governor stressed during the workshop that he will keep his promise of providing free health services as one of the banner programs of his administration and likewise recommended to the TWG to fast track ithe UHC full implementation for the benefit the general public, particularly indigents.
The TWG first tackled the UHC Road Map Review presented by Provincial Health Officer I Dr. Alah Baby Vingno that started early last year when RA 11223 was passed by Congress and its Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) drafted in the last quarter of 2019.
Last year’smajor accomplishments include the organization and reconstitution of the Provincial Health Board and Commitment Signing through Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Health.
Three (3)ommittees, namely; the Financial, Managerial and Technical Integration Committees composed of representative from provincial offices, Municipal and City Health Offices, Department of Health (DOH) 12 and private hospitals, and NGOs brainstormed to come up with their respective activities with the Road Map as guide that is geared towards their “seamless integration” until the full implementation of UHC in the province is achieved.
Dr. Vingno said that series of meetings by each committee or the 3 committees in plenary will follow in the weeks to come with the creation of the Primary Care Providers Network (PCPN) and Health Care Providers Network (HCPN) as one of the major activities expected to be completed by the middle of 2020.
The TWG likewise aims to accomplish the establishment of a functional Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and utilization of the Special health Fund (SHF) before the UHC full implementation.
DOH 12 Regional Director Dr. Aristides Concepcion Tan, accompanied by Provincial Health Officer II Dr. Rogelio Aturdido Jr., likewise graced the occasion and expressed his support to the succeeding endeavors of the provincial UHC Implementation Team, particularly on the financial aspect.
South Cotabato is one of the selected 33 Implementing Sites (IS) of UHC in the country.