MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Ted Herbosa, whose appointment was introduced Monday night, ought to prioritize the nation’s long-term plans on the COVID-19 pandemic and on preparations for future pandemics, in accordance with a physician’s group.

Herbosa’s appointment got here after almost a 12 months of the well being division being led by Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire as officer-in-charge.

“We still have the pandemic. For me, that is the Number One priority,” stated Rontgene Solante, president of the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), in an interview with CNN Philippines’ ‘The Source’.

Even if the World Health Organization has declared that COVID-19 is not a worldwide well being emergency, Solante identified that there’s a want to recollect the teachings discovered from the pandemic to enhance the nation’s means to answer one other well being disaster.

Long-term plans on vaccination, the institution of an area virology institute and rising the variety of healthcare services ought to issue into the nation’s plans for the following pandemic, Solante added.

“This pandemic will not be the last pandemic. There are ongoing outbreaks of cases like dengue and the looming problem of tuberculosis and HIV. These are all interconnected, and it’s good to know the direction the Philippines will be going,” the infectious illness skilled added.

Solante added the Universal Healthcare Law ought to be applied extra extensively to convey healthcare providers nearer to far-flung areas.

“We know that there is inequality in terms of access to health care facilities (and) medicine,” Solante stated.

A 2022 research by state assume tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) discovered that members of state-owned Philippine Health Insurance Corp nonetheless pay out-of-pocket for medical providers regardless of the enactment of the Universal Healthcare Law in 2019.

The landmark legislation -– Republic Act 11223 — enrolls all Filipinos within the authorities’s nationwide medical insurance program with the purpose of increasing entry to healthcare, particularly for these with low revenue.

But PIDS researchers discovered that aged, girls, rural and poor Filipinos had been extra more likely to spend extra as this system protection might solely cowl 40% of whole hospital prices.

PhilHealth additionally lined a mean of 55.83% of hospital prices from 2019 to 2021, based mostly on PIDS researchers’ computation of knowledge from the DOH, Philippine Statistics Authority and Washington-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

New DOH chief

Marcos on Monday named Herbosa as the brand new DOH chief after the place was left vacant for greater than a 12 months.

Herbosa’s feedback and statements on the pandemic and different nationwide issues beforehand drew backlash from the general public when he was government vp of the University of the Philippines System.

These incidents had been when Herbosa shared “fake news” about COVID-19 infections, poked fun at an individual who died whereas lining up at a group pantry and shared a rape joke on Facebook.