Davide named ‘champ for health’

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III, along with 13 other governors from all over the country, was named “champion for health.”

The Department of Health (DOH) and the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) conferred the Champion for Health Governance awards on 14 governors in recognition of their excellent and efficient implementation of local health programs.

The governors participated in the Provincial Leadership and Governance Program (PLGP) of DOH and ZFF.

PLGP combines “training and coaching to help provincial health leaders analyze their current healthcare capacities and use these to attain their targets.” The program is of particular relevance as most Philippine public hospitals are managed by provincial governments.

PLGP uses the Bridging Leadership Framework and the hospital roadmap to help leaders make systemic health reforms. These will help them achieve their targets under the World Health Organization’s six building blocks of health systems: such as leadership and governance, financing, access to medicines and technology, workforce, health information system, and service delivery.

Davide said healthcare is one of his six-key development agenda.

“I emphasized to them (stakeholders of DOH & ZFF) nga health is number one of the priority of the province,” Davide said.

To further improve Cebu’s delivery of healthcare service, the governor met yesterday with the health officers of the province and region to discuss how the provincial government can align its development agenda with that of the health department.

“Before sa effectivity of the local government code, ang DOH man nag-manage tanang provincial hospitals. Upon devolution, the hospitals were turned over to the LGUs,” he said.

Cebu has 12 district and four provincial hospitals.

“So kita na’y nagpadagan niini. Kita na’y nag-hire og mga personnel. Ato na gyud tanan. DOH was just facilitating,” Davide said.

The Local Government Code in 1991 devolved the support and supervision of hospitals from the national government to local government units.

Although the hospital functions were transferred to LGUs, the governor clarified that funds are not “devolved.”

He added that the devolution of hospital management from DOH to the province in 1991 still has “inarticulate processes.”

For instance, he said, the DOH taps directly the Rural Health Units in the cities and towns of the province for the implementation of its programs and projects, while the Provincial Health Office follows another procedures and protocols.

“Fragmented kaayo ang atong health delivery system,” Davide said, adding that his administration is trying to address the said discrepancy with the DOH. (FREEMAN)