The lack of health workers in the country can be resolved once the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Universal Health Care (UHC) law will be passed, an official said.
During the public consultation for the UHC IRR at Royal Mandaya Hotel recently, Health Assistant Secretary Abdullah Dumama said there will be a national master plan to address the lack of health workers in the country.
“Once this will be materialized, we will be able plan and roll out the solution for the lack of human resources for health (HRH). There will be an equitable distribution, and competitive wage for the health workers. We have observed that up to now, there are still many HHR who are contractual workers,” Dumama said.
However, Dumama clarified that narrowing the gap of the doctor and patient ratio in the country may not be addressed immediately. “It will be more realistic if I say we are hoping to eventually achieve this,” he said.
Dumama noted that the master plan may be rolled out after the release of the UHC IRR. A committee will be named to craft the master plan.
The public consultation for the IRR is now in its second to last leg.
“This is the fifth leg which is comprised of representatives from Region XI, XII, and Caraga. On July 25 and 26, we will be in Cagayan de Oro for the last leg for Region 9, 10, and BARMM,” Dumama said.
The IRR is expected to be out by August this year.
“By the second week of August, we will consolidate everything,” he added. “The technical working group is working very hard. They said before the end of August, they will release the IRR.”
After the release of the IRR, the UHC will roll out to 33 implementation sites in the country where the concerned agencies will study good practices and other experiences that will help improve the implementation of the law.
