Proposed e-health system hurdles House

MANILA, Philippines – The proposed measure creating the country’s electronic health system has passed the first hurdle in the House of Representatives.

The technical working group (TWG) of the House committee on health approved the bills that seek to establish the Philippine eHealth System and Services during a meeting last Wednesday, even while Congress is on a month-long recess.

Nueva Ecija 4th District Rep. Maricel Natividad-Nagaño, TWG head and committee vice chair, said they consolidated the proposed measures to a substitute bill and harmonized it with the recently signed implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act.

“The basic policies of these bills are the same, which is to utilize technology infrastructure to ensure better delivery of medical services to all Filipinos,” she explained.

During the meeting, the lawmakers addressed concerns raised by health officials that the proposed measure might be rendered redundant by RA 11223.

“There might be some provisions indicated in the recently signed UHC IRR. But we believe there are other major provisions that need to be taken up in a separate bill,” John Ulysses Galo told members of the TWG. Galo is the representative of Knowledge Management and Information Technology Service of the Department of Health.

He cited provisions in the bills on governance and accountability mechanisms that direct and regulate the practice of eHealth and the various technologies under it, the transformation of their office into a bureau and ensuring the continuous investments and financing of eHealth initiatives across the country.

Nagaño vowed to address the issues raised during the meeting in the version of the bill to be approved by the committee when session resumes next month.

Among the bills tackled were House Bill 8 authored by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, HB 171 authored by committee on health chair Rep. Angelina Tan of Quezon’s 4th District, HB 61 by Rep. Victor Yap of Tarlac’s 2nd District, HB 665 by Rep. Ron Salo of Kabayan party-list and HB 4899 by Rep. John Marvin “Yul Servo” Nieto of Manila’s 3rd District.

In pushing for the measure, Cayetano cited the lack of information and medical record of Filipinos.

“For Filipinos in general, it is not a usual practice to keep such documentation – whether of previous checkups, diagnostic test results, medication, treatments and procedures done, among others,” the Speaker stressed.

He said the government should give emphasis and priority to assist Filipinos in record keeping and making medical history available.

Cayetano proposed the creation of a Health Passport System, which provides each Filipino with a document that reflects each individual’s full medical history and other relevant data. 

“In the event of emergencies, this will also be a handy tool that can be essential in saving lives,” he explained.

Under his bill, all Filipino citizens shall be entitled to a health passport to be used when a patient avails himself of medical and dental check-ups or treatment provided in government or private medical institutions.

The proposed health passport shall be a mobile record booklet of the patient containing patient’s medical and dental history as recorded by the physician, dentist or authorized health professionals: medical and dental test results; diagnostics; medicines and medical treatments availed of; basic medical data; information on all medical and health related benefits provided by law; and information regarding the patient’s medical rights and privileges under the passport system.