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DOH eyes health resiliency as Marcos vows accessible health care

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Job Manahan, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Residents have their babies immunized during a ceremonial vaccination as part of the observance of World Immunization Week at the Sto. Niño Health Center, Marikina City, on April 27, 2022. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/news/07/26/20220427-world-immunization-week-jc-34.jpg"/><figcaption>Residents have their babies immunized during a ceremonial vaccination as part of the observance of World Immunization Week at the Sto. Niño Health Center, Marikina City, on April 27, 2022. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said it hopes Filipinos will become more &quot;health literate&quot;, and the country&#x27;s capacity in preventing and controlling outbreaks strengthened, following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr&#x27;s desire to make health care services more accessible.</p><p>DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the agency would follow-through with Marcos&#x27; directive during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) to improve health facilities nationwide. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/26/22/doh-19000-daily-covid-cases-possible-by-end-august">Philippines may log 19,000 daily COVID cases by end-August: DOH</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/07/20/22/ndrrmc-says-ready-to-replace-covid-19-task-force">NDRRMC says ready to replace nat&#x27;l task force vs COVID-19</a></li></ul><p>&quot;Strengthening our facilities as what the President mentioned yesterday, that we will have these specialty care facilities in different regions of our country, as well as the primary care facilities having this network of primary care facilities and higher level facilities, so access for the people will be improved,&quot; Vergeire said during a post-SONA briefing. </p><p>&quot;We would like them to make them more health literate by being active participants to this response by joining the government of the response, and of course changing behavior as well,&quot; she added. </p><p>Marcos sought to strengthen the country&#x27;s health care system by establishing more specialized hospitals and making services accessible nationwide. </p><p>He also promised to create more local health units that will be visited by doctors and nurses as he wants health care accessible even to those in far-flung areas.</p><p>&quot;Maliwanag na hindi lamang dito sa NCR kundi maging sa ibang parte ng bansa, kailangang magdagdag ng ganitong uri ng pagamutan,&quot; he said.</p><div><strong>STRENGTHENING HEALTH CAPACITY</strong></div><p>Vergeire also emphasized the need for the creation of a Virology Institute and the Philippine Center for Disease Control. </p><p>The government though will need to hire scientists and high-level technical experts &quot;so that we can be able to manage emerging and reemerging diseases,&quot; she said. </p><p>The DOH will be willing to work with the science and technology department to help set-up the country&#x27;s virology institute so that &quot;eventually we can be able to locally manufacture our technology such as vaccines for the specific infectious diseases.&quot;</p><p>Vergeire also backed the passage of a law establishing the Medical Reserve Corps to help support the country&#x27;s response during health crises and make the country self-sufficient in terms of commodities.</p><p>&quot;To have this dynamic provision of services, there should be a Medical Reserve Corps... If there are emergencies or this kind of pandemic of this scale, there should be a pool of medical personnel that we could easily tap from... across different facilities of government and the private sector as well,&quot; she said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/25/22/marcos-bares-administrations-legislative-agenda">Mandatory ROTC, gov&#x27;t rightsizing: Marcos cites 19 priority legislative measures</a></li></ul><p>To be able to accomplish these, she said an inter-agency task force must be in place so that it could coordinate with the country&#x27;s disaster response agency for clear implementation of policies.</p><p>The functions and authority of the National Task Force Against COVID-19 have been transferred recently to the NDRRMC as the country continues to battle the pandemic. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/20/22/ndrrmc-assumes-functions-of-ntf-against-covid-19">NDRRMC assumes functions of NTF against COVID-19</a></li></ul><p>&quot;We need that governance mechanism, that we will have. Continue to have an inter-agency task force which will be able to manage the first two levels of response for the country and an institutionalized system or organization, the NDRRMC, to be implementing all of these policy directions that IATF will be providing to the health sector.&quot;</p><p>The Alliance of Health Workers expressed dissatisfaction with Marcos&#x27; plans for the health sector, noting the lack of specifics in terms of uplifting the welfare of health workers and offering nothing new in his pronouncements.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/26/22/marcos-sona-receives-barely-passing-grade-from-ahw">Marcos SONA receives &#x27;barely passing grade&#x27; from health workers&#x27; group</a></li></ul><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2142843" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The DOH on Tuesday said it hopes Filipinos will become more 'health literate', and the country's capacity in preventing and controlling outbreaks strengthened.

DOH eyes health resiliency as Marcos vows accessible health care

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DOH eyes health resiliency as Marcos vows accessible health care

Job Manahan,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 26, 2022 07:29 PM PHT

Read More:

DOH

Department of Health

Bongbong Marcos

Vergeire

health

COVID19

coronavirus

accessible health care

Ferdinand Marcos Jr

Maria Rosario Vergeire

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