Council for Health and Development, Inc

CHWs demand higher health budget to address dengue problem

2011-09-14T01:32:00.000-07:00

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique T. Ona and President Noynoy Aquino are like dengue mosquitoes – they are vectors of anti-poor health policies that make people sick.

Community Health Workers (CHWs) from Parañaque, Pasig, Tondo, Mandaluyong, and Quezon City trooped once again to DOH today to demand for a higher health budget for dengue patients in public hospitals.

Dengue cases continued to increase to 63,741 cases as of September 3 while the number of fatalities reached 373. Metro Manila still ranked first in terms of incidence at 14,081 followed by Central Luzon (11,427), CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) (9,414), Ilocos (8,811), at Cagayan Valley (3,942).

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique T. Ona and President Noynoy Aquino are like dengue mosquitoes – they are vectors of anti-poor health policies that make people sick.

In Metro Manila, Quezon City recorded the highest number of cases at 4,385 while Caloocan City (1,802), Manila (1,620), Valenzuela (1,029), Pasig (800), and Malabon (706) reported an increasing number of cases as well.

Aside from dengue, patients suffer a “double-whammy” due to out-of-pocket expenses. Even charity ward patients are forced to spend at least P5,000 for complete blood count (CBC), oral rehydration solution (ORS), dextrose solution, needles for dextrose, and lancet or needle for blood extraction. The amount excludes fees for blood transfusion. Each bag of blood amounts to at least P1,500 at the Philippine National Red Cross.

Although DOH and Pnoy boasts its “No Balance Billing” under PhilHealth for the poorest 5.2 million individuals, the problem of expensive hospital fees continue to become a burden for dengue patients. Even with a subsidy of P16,000 per patient afflicted with dengue, out-of-pocket expenditures are still a burden.

Public hospitals are ill-equipped. Many of the necessary medical facilities and equipment are either lacking or have broken down. In-hospital pharmacies are poorly stocked and do not supply the necessary reagents. Hence, “patients’ relatives resort to private laboratory facilities and pharmacies in or outside the hospital,” the CHWs said.

In a recent budget hearing, Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño found out that PhilHealth covers a virtually negligible amount on a patient’s hospital bill. At the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) for example, PhilHealth only accounts for 14% of the total bill of PCMC patients for the year 2010. Majority of the expenses are borne by the patients, with 27% being covered by promissory notes.

The CHWs argued that the number of poor people is far more than 5.2 million. Instead of a “members-only” government health insurance scheme and anti-poor programs such as the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP), services in public hospitals should be made free of charge and public health facilities beefed-up to better serve the public.

As an immediate measure, the CHWs called on the government to release P2 billion special budget for dengue patients in public hospitals and an additional P5 billion for dengue prevention campaign. They vowed to continue their protest actions and encourage hundreds of other CHWs, community members, health professionals, and health workers to march with them to Malacañang on September 29 to demand an increase on health budget.##

Igiit ang dagdag na budget para sa mga pasyenteng may dengue!

2011-09-13T01:24:00.000-07:00

Mula Enero hanggang Setyembre 3 ngayong taon, umaabot na sa 63,741 ang mga kaso ng dengue sa buong bansa habang 373 naman ang naitalang patay bunsod ng nasabing sakit. Pinakamataas ang Metro Manila na may 14,081 na sinundan ng Central Luzon (11,427), CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) (9,414), Ilocos (8,811), at Cagayan Valley (3,942).

Sa Metro Manila, pinakamataas pa rin ang Quezon City na may naitalang 4,385, Caloocan City (1,802), Manila (1,620), Valenzuela (1,029), Pasig (800), at Malabon (706).

Bukod sa pagkakasakit, dobleng dagok ang nararanasan ng mga pasyente sa mga ospital. Obligadong gumastos ng hindi bababa sa P5,000 kada pasyente kahit yaong mga nasa charity ward para sa complete blood count (CBC), oral rehydration solution (ORS), dextrose solution (3-4 bags kada araw), karayom para sa dextrose, at lancet o karayom para sa pagkuha ng dugo. Idagdag pa ang P1,500 kada bag ng dugo na kakailanganing isalin sa pasyente kung kailangan.

Bagaman ibinabandila ng Department of Health (DOH) at Malacañang ang “No Balance Billing” ng PhilHealth bilang “sagot” sa mga gastusin ng 5.2 milyong pinakamahihirap na pasyente, hindi nito totoong natutugunan ang kalunos-lunos na kalagayan sa mga pampublikong ospital. Marami sa mga pampublikong pasilidad ang kulang o walang gamot at reagents sa kanilang botika at kulang o sira ang mga pasilidad sa laboratoryo.

Hindi solusyon ang PhilHealth sa problemang pangkalusugan ng mamamayan dahil sa napakaraming limitasyon nito. Dahil sa kakulangan ng budget ng mga ospital ng gubyerno, kailangan pa ding maglabas ng pera ang mga mahihirap na pasyente dahil napipilitang pumunta sa mga pribadong laboratoryo at botika sa loob o labas ng ospital ang kaanak ng mga pasyente upang maitawid ang pangangailangan ng kanilang mahal sa buhay.

Sa halip na dagdagan ang budget ng mga pampublikong ospital, lalong ibinubukas ng pamahalaang Aquino sa mga dambuhalang negosyante ang serbisyong pangkalusugan ng mamamayan sa pamamagitan ng programa nitong Public Private Partnership (PPP). Lalong mawawalan ng kakayahang makapagpagamot ang mga mahihirap dahil negosyo at hindi serbisyo ang layunin ng mga namumuhunang ito.

Hindi lamang lamok kundi ang kawalang aksyon ng pamahalaan sa problemang pangkalusugan ng mamamayan ang sanhi ng kabi-kabilang outbreak ng dengue. Artipisyal at mistulang “pamasak-butas” ang mga hakbang na isinasagawa ng gubyerno dahil hindi nito nasasapul ang tunay na sanhi ng sakit na ito – mababang budget pangkalusugan.

Para sa mamamayan, dapat tayong magkaisa upang igiit ang ating karapatan sa kalusugan. Sama-sama nating ilantad ang mga mapanlinlang na programa ng gubyernong Aquino gaya ng PPP.

Magkaisa tayo upang igiit:

P2 bilyon special budget para sa mga pasyenteng may dengue!
P5 bilyon budget para sa pag-iwas sa dengue!
PPP o pribatisasyon, hindi solusyon sa problemang pangkalusugan!
PhilHealth, di sagot sa kawalan ng serbisyo!

Muli tayong magsama-sama sa Setyembre 29, 9:00 ng umaga sa harap ng University of Santo Tomas, España, Manila at tayo’y magmamartsa patungong Malacañang upang igiit ang dagdag na badyet sa kalusugan.

AHON-Isla (Samahan ng mga Naninirahan sa Isla Puting Bato)• Community Health Workers ng Pasig • Community Health Workers ng Alyansa ng mga Nakatira sa Tabing Ilog – Damayang Lagi •Kilos Bayan Para sa Kalusugan • Parañaque Wide Community Health Workers’ Association

Community Health Workers ng Quezon City, nanawagan ng dagdag na pondo para sa mga pasyente ng dengue

2011-08-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

Ang tinaguriang pinakamayamang lungsod sa bansa ang siya ngayong may pinakamataas na bilang ng mga apektado ng dengue.

Ito ang hinaing ng mga Community Health Workers (CHWs) ng Quezon City sa mga lokal na opisyal ng lungsod. Naglunsad ng isang maikling programa sa harap ng Quezon City Hall ang grupo upang manawagan ng mas seryoso at mapagpasyang hakbang ng lokal na pamahalaan ng Quezon City sa dengue.

Ayon kay Mel Yandog, tagapagsalita ng CHWs dito, kulang at di-kagyat ang mga tugon ng pamahalaan sa dengue. Paliwanag pa niya, ang taun-taong paglobo ng bilang ng mga apektado ay nagpapakita lamang ng kakulangan sa mga programa upang maiwasan ang nakamamatay na sakit .

Sa ngayon, may 3,948 na kaso mula Enero hanggang Agosto 20 ngayong taon kumpara sa 1,264 noong 2010. Mas mataas ng 2,684 o 212%. Ang mga idineklarang “dengue hotspots” sa lungsod ay ang mga barangay ng Bagbag, San Bartolome, Commonwealth, Batasan Hills, at Holy Spirit.

Aniya, kapansin-pansin na kalakhan ng populasyon ng mga lugar na ito ay pawang maralita o mga pinakamahihirap sa lungsod. Ang sakit na dengue ay karaniwang matatagpuan sa mga napabayaan at kinalimutang bahagi ng mga lungsod at probinsiya. Kalakhan ng biktima nito ay mga mahihirap at salat sa nutrisyon, dagdag niya.

“Kahit sa mga pampublikong ospital, obligado pa ring gumastos ng hindi bababa sa P5,000 ang isang pasyente,” paliwanag niya. Nanawagan ang grupo na maglabas ang pamahalaan ng di bababa sa P5,000 bawat pasyenteng may sakit na dengue upang tugunan ang pang-medikal na pangangailangan sa ospital.

Sa kabuuan, nangangailangan ng P2 bilyon bilang ispesyal na budget sa mga may sakit ng dengue at dagdag na P5 bilyon upang gamitin sa kampanya upang iwasan ang sakit na ito.

Nanawagan si Yandog sa lokal na pamahalaan ng Quezon City na bigyan ng espesyal na pondo ang mga pampublikong ospital upang matugunan ang mga pangangailangan ng mga pasyenteng may dengue. Dapat din na bigyang diin ng pamahalaan at paglaanan ng sapat na pondo ang mga programang pangkalusugan upang maiwasan ang dengue at mga kahalintulad na sakit.

Bukod sa dengue, banta sa kabuhayan at kalusugan ng mamamayan dito ang nakaambang demolisyon partikular sa mga kabahayan sa Damayang Lagi, E. Rodriguez, Quezon City. Ayon sa isang CHW dapat “atupagin ng pamahalaan ang pagbibigay ng libreng serbisyong pangkalusugan sa mga biktima ng dengue at hindi ang demolisyon sa mga abang maralita ng lungsod.”##

Health group threatened anew

2011-07-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

www.nordis.net

BAGUIO CITY — A day before the PNoy’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), a staff of the Community Health Education, Service and Training in the Cordillera Region (CHESTCORE) received a threat on her mobile number again.

At about noon on July 24, Sunday, Milagros Ao-wat received threats from cell number 09093118024 indicating close surveillance on her whereabouts and activities.

“Ingat kau, labas kau ng labas kasla kayo met gamin sigsiguro. Apay dayta trabaho yo mano ti bayad no matay kayo. Parangal laeng met.. ay ay ay. Narigat ti mabrainwash ta haan nga makita ti usto,” (Take care, you are always going out, you are very daring. Why? How much will you get from your work when you die? Only a tribute … ay ay ay. It is hard to be brainwashed because you cannot see what is right) one text message read.

This was followed by another saying, “Sinowak? Haan masapul ti nagan ko. Ammoyo met nu cno dagiti agininteresado kadakayo. Kuna yo nga iharharas mi dakayo,” (Who am I? You don’t need to know my name. You know very well who are after you. You said that we are harassing you).

“Threats continue. Nothing has changed despite Pnoy’s promise of a ‘matuwid na daan’! ,” Romella Liquigan-Rasalan, the Executive Director of CHESTCORE said. The group she said strongly condemns the continuing assault on their staff and their institution inspite of their continuing resolve to render health services.

In earlier reports, Ao-wat, a CHESTCORE staff member revealed to have received several death threats last December, 2010 and January, 2011 on her phone.

“The threats have not stopped. This is appalling because what we do is provide much-needed health services and yet, this is what we get,” Ao-wat said.

“We have already reported this to the Commission on Human Rights. They have yet to bring out their report on the past cases and now, there are new threats,” Rasalan added.

March this year, CHESTCORE launched a campaign to stop the harassment of Cordillera health workers as it exposed continuing threats that happened on staff and volunteers when in Baguio and during field work since 2007.

The campaign aimed not only to expose the threats but to help assert people’s right to health. CHESTCORE, a non-government health institution founded in 1981, has been serving far-flung Northern Luzon communities which are not reached by government health services or where these are insufficient. Unfortunately, instead of being commended for their work, CHESTCORE has been accused of being New People’s Army (NPA) supporters or their staff accused as being NPAs themselves.

“This is not really surprising even if people pinned much hope for change under this administration,” Jude Baggo, the secretary-general of the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) said. PNoy he added has launched his Oplan Bayanihan last December 2010, an anti-insurgency program that includes among its features the vilification or the tagging of progressive organizations as underground organizations.

“This has replaced then president Arroyo’s Oplan Bantay Laya that accounted for the more than 1000 extra-judicial killings among militant groups” he added.

“But this has to stop!,” he stressed. Thus, he said they highlighted CHESTCORE’s case in their Assembly last July 28 & 29 in Ifugao especially in the launching of their anti-vilification campaign.

CHESTCORE and CHRA vowed to put in greater efforts in this campaign to gain broader support in these cases and to stop continuing human rights violations in the region. #

R.A. 100069 declares May 7 as Health Worker's Day

2011-05-08T03:53:00.001-07:00

Pictures of the Health Worker's Day Protest

CBHP national secretariat expresses support for CHESTCORE, scores gov’t for tolerating impunity in the country

2011-04-19T06:04:00.001-07:00

Council for Health and Development (CHD) today expresses firm solidarity with CHESTCORE (Community Health, Education, Services and Trainings in the Cordillera Region), a fellow community-based health program based in Baguio City on the spate of continuous threats and harassments on its staff.

Dr. Eleanor A. Jara, CHD executive director said that their group is outraged by the lack of decisive action of the Aquino government regarding the safety and well-being of Community Health Workers (CHW). “For decades, CHWs risked life and limb to serve communities deprived of public health service,” she said.

Jara added that CHWs give health skills and services such as trainings, first aid, and traditional medicine without expecting anything in return. “Our community-based health programs continue to enjoy massive support from the vulnerable communities that we serve – that is how we thrived and endured countless challenges in our programs’ 38 years of existence,” Jara explained.

The doctor is concerned about how the government tolerates the culture of impunity in the country.

By not doing anything to protect those who protect the marginalized from diseases, the government in effect “encourages perpetrators of human rights violations to continue to prey on CHWs and other health workers” such as in the cases of CHESTCORE staff Milagros Ao-wat, Germelina Cynthia Dacanay and Rosalinda Suyam.

Cases of human rights violations reached its peak during former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term. Various people’s health organizations in the country held Arroyo accountable for the illegal detention and torture of several CHWs and health professionals like the ‘Morong 43’.

CHD is challenging the current administration to order the investigation of human rights violations and reported harassments to CHWs in the Cordillera and other regions.

“Mr. Aquino’s sincerity to protect human rights and ensure people’s access to health remains to be seen. We hope to see the day when no CHW or health professional will never have to think twice in serving far-flung communities just because they fear for their lives and safety,” Jara concluded.

Reference:
Dr. Eleanor A. Jara
0917-9789297 / (+632) 929-8109

Morong 43 plaintiffs unfazed by Arroyo and military reaction to civil case

2011-04-10T22:57:00.001-07:00

“Whatever it takes, we are determined to make those torturers pay for their crimes.”

With sheer determination in their faces, six of the Morong 43 who filed a civil suit against Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, et. al said that the cases they filed last April 4 is their contribution to end the culture of impunity in the country.

“My colleagues and I are utterly unfazed by what Col. Baladad and Col. Parlade are rattling in the media. They should do better than to recycle old arguments that we are members of the NPA. Our message is clear and strong, human rights violators must be made accountable for their crimes,” Gary Liberal, R.N., one of the plaintiffs said.

Liberal added that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the top military officials named in their complaint are delusional for thinking they can get away with their crimes. “We enjoin all victims of human rights violations under the Arroyo administration to file a case and pursue justice.”

He ended that Macapagal-Arroyo and her cohorts should brace themselves for more lawsuits from their victims. “This is our contribution to end impunity in this country,” Liberal said.##

Reference:
Carlos Montemayor, RN
0922 499 6237 / (+632) 929 8109

CHD participates in a medical and dental mission that served more than 300 patients

2011-04-10T22:18:00.000-07:00

On March 26, 2011, a Medical Mission was held on NIA Road, Quezon City. Over 321 patients were catered and attended to by physicians from different hospitals and organizations. The event was organized by Bayan Muna – NIA Road chapter.

The community in NIA Road is an Urban Poor resettlement area for the fire victims in BIR road Brgy Central, Quezon City last February 7, 2011. The fire burned over 500 households and the affected population reached up to 2,000. Aside from fire, the residents in the area also fear an impending demolition to pave the way for the Quezon City Business District (QCBD). The local government of Quezon City plans to clear the area and convert it to a commercial district, a resident said.

Despite being at the heart of a bustling city and its proximity to major government hospitals, the basic health needs of the people are not met. Many still require medical attention and dental check-ups.

Five pediatricians, 1 surgeon, 1 ER medicine doctor, 3 internists, 3 pathologists, and 1 family doctor coming from East Avenue Medical Center, Philippine General Hospital, Philippine Heart Center, Philippine Children's Medical Center, and the Council for Health and Development attended to the needs of 257 patients.

Four dentists, two from Philippine General Hospital and and two from University of the East (UE) Graduate School were able to provide services to 64 patients. Some of the patients, whose teeth can still be saved through root canal therapy, were referred to UE Graduate School for free treatment.

Bayan Muna partylist representative, Teddy Casiño was also present in the event.

Poverty and Health care

According to Bayan Muna – NIA Road coordinator Eric Castillo, Medical Missions such as the one they organized is evidence of the government’s neglect upon its people. They said that if the government is able to fulfill its duties to its people, there would be no need for medical missions because the people already has access to affordable and quality health care.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in a recent statement said that high cost of health care is a major factor which drives Filipino families into poverty. One of the solutions which they offer to governments is proper funding for the health care services of the people. This would help decrease the burden of the people through out-of-pocket health expenditures. However, at this rate, it would seem that the government will fail once again to fund health expenditures as it prioritizes debt servicing and military spending.

In line with this, People’s Organizations and Non-government Organizations strive to reach a common goal, which is to provide free health care to the people of rural and urban communities such as in NIA Road. Active participation of the community as well as volunteers from various schools, organizations and the health sector is also essential in the actualization of this goal.
##Alren Aure, RN

CHESTCORE supports Morong 43’s Filing of Civil Case against GMA for Illegal Arrest

2011-04-07T03:47:00.000-07:00

Reacting to the filing of civil cases against then Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) by former detainees and members of the Morong 43, CHESTCORE expressed full support to their fellow health workers for pursuing their fight for justice to its end by making the Commander-in-Chief at that time of their illegal arrest and detention, accountable, even if they are now released.

CHESTCORE Executive Director Mia Liquigan-Rasalan said that with the many human rights violations committed under the GMA administration, she (GMA) must not get away with it even as she now hides under the cloak of Congress as Pampanga’s 2nd District congresswoman. Liquigan-Rasalan made this statement, as she recalls that the cases CHESTCORE filed with the Commission on Human Rights and the Joint Peace Panel of the Government of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the ongoing Peace Talks, were committed since 2007, clearly a period under GMA.

CHESTCORE, a private organization promoting community-based approaches and strategies in health care in Northern Luzon since 1981, came out last March 17 in a press conference, exposing surveillance, intimidation and harassment reaching death threats by state forces on their office, their fieldwork and individual staff in recent months.

Among the staff, there is fear that their plight can similarly end up like those of their fellow health workers in Morong 43. Worse, some of them who have received death threats may also end up like Leonard Co, a fellow CHESTCORE staff back in the 80’s who was shot in Leyte in what government troops claim to be a crossfire . “But we can draw strength when fellow victims pursue their fight”, said Rayne Suyam, one CHESTCORE staff who has been in communities where the harassment happened, in talking about the Morong 43 filed case.

As they pursue their campaign calling for a stop to the harassment of community health workers, CHESTCORE said this is their contribution in the assertion of people’s right to health as well as in bringing GMA to justice for the many grave human rights violations marked by a record-high number of extra-judicial killings committed under her term.

They also challenged Pres. Aquino, to ensure that the wheels of justice will be quick and fair for Morong 43 and that he withdraw Oplan Bayanihan, a more deceptive anti-government program that replaced the dreaded Oplan Bantay Laya of the Pres. Arroyo.

CHESTCORE, together with the UP Student Council and the UP Kasarian Gender Studies Center, will be holding a forum entitled “Stop the Harassment of Cordillera Health Workers!” as part of the continuing campaign. This forum, which will feature testimonies of community health workers from CHESTCORE, from the communities and from Morong 43, will be on April 14, 2011, 8:30 – 12:00 noon at the College of Social Science Audio Visual Room (CSS AVR) of the University of the Philippines Baguio.

Morong 43 file formal charges against GMA and military officials behind their arrest

2011-04-04T03:19:00.001-07:00

Taking their struggle to the next level, former detainees and members of the so called Morong 43 trooped to the Quezon City Hall of Justice today to formally file a civil case against top ranking government and military officials believed to be behind the gross injustices they were made to suffer in the 10 months that they were unlawfully detained.

The plaintiffs are suing for damages totaling P15 million for physical and psychological torture and other forms of indignities they suffered during their illegal arrest and detention. Defendants named in the suit are former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales, former Chief of Staff Gen. Victor Ibrado, Gen. Delfin N. Bangit, former commander of the 2nd Infantry Division (ID) Gen. Jorge Segovia, commander of the intelligence unit of the 2nd IDPA Lt. Col. Cristobal Zaragosa, 2nd IDPA Warden Major Manuel Tabion, commander of the 202nd Infantry Batallion (IB) Col. Aurelio Baladad, 16th IBPA commander Lt. Col. Jaime Abawag, and Rizal Provincial Police Office commander P/Supt. Marion Balolong.

The case was filed by six of the Morong 43 health workers namely, Dr. Merry Mia-Clamor, Dr. Alexis Montes, registered nurse Gary Liberal, registered midwife Ma. Teresa Quinawayan, Reynaldo Macabenta, and Mercy Castro.

With the filing of the suit, the health workers said that they are taking on a new chapter in their quest for justice. “We want to send a strong message that one cannot just get away with human rights violations. This is our contribution to efforts in making sure that human rights violators are made accountable for their actions,” Liberal, one of the plaintiffs, said. Liberal furthered that they are aware of the red-scare tactics the military is once again attempting to employ citing the AFP’s press releases that their troops identified four former Morong 43 detainees in 2 separate clashes between the New People’s Army and AFP soldiers in Luzon. “If there is one thing that the military is very good at, it is recycling terrible arguments such as the Morong 43 being members of the NPA. Their own lies further expose their institution as prime human rights violators. Nobody believes them anymore,” Liberal stressed.

He added that the Filipino people and thousands of citizens from more than 32 countries, many of them prominent in their fields of expertise, serve as their inspiration in the filing of civil case.

Free the 43 Health Workers! Alliance’s Carlos Montemayor added that their group fully support the Morong 43’s quest for justice. He said that their group will never tire of “beating the gongs of human rights issues” even if most of the Morong 43 are now free. Two of them, Rogelio Villarasis and Mario Delos Santos, are still detained at Camp Bagong Diwa because of trumped up charges against them. Their legal counsels are still working for their release.

As the new commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, the alliance challenged the Aquino government to ensure that the military and police will fully cooperate in the court hearings. They also enjoined the public to keep their vigilance to avoid any whitewash.##

Reference:
Carlos Montemayor, R.N.
(+63922) 499-6237 / (+632) 929-8109

Stop the harassment of all Cordillera Health Workers!

2011-03-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

CHESTCORE vehemently denounces the escalating harassment of its staff and volunteers in recent months. We have observed several vehicles and individuals conducting surveillance on our office. Several of our staff have also been followed while going around Baguio City. Last December 2010 and this January 2011, our staff Milagros Ao-wat received several death threats through her cell phone.

CHESTCORE responds to the historically-neglected health situation in the Cordilleras

CHESTCORE (or the Community Health Education, Services and Training in the Cordillera Region) is an NGO that has been working to build community-based health programs since 1981. The present CHESTCORE staff are health professionals coming from various fields – doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, etc. Many of us are members of the various Igorot tribes of the Cordillera Region. Despite the many job opportunities available to us abroad and in the big urban (city) centers, we have chosen to serve the marginalized sectors of Cordillera society. Just as botanist Leonard Co did when he was field staff member of CHESTCORE, we work among the indigenous farmers, laborers, small-scale miners and urban poor.

We endure long bus and jeepney rides and even longer hikes along treacherous mountain trails to reach the far-flung barrios we serve. Instead of working in big hospitals as we have been trained to do in school, we treat patients armed only with our stethoscope, BP set, meager medical supplies and our acupuncture needles and medicinal plants. Instead of conducting lectures in formal classrooms in big universities, we train peasant men and women (most of who have not finished elementary) in small barangay halls, churches and nipa huts so that they too can render service as community health workers. We have long foregone the big salary, modern luxuries and fashionable white coat that the health professions are known for. We are content to receive a living allowance equivalent to the salary of a government midwife or even less.

Our greatest reward has always been seeing the transformation of barely-literate farmers used to silently enduring poverty and exploitation into empowered leaders and members of their peoples’ organizations and Health Committees. We bear witness that it IS possible to place “health in the hands of the people” through community-based health programs.

Latest forms of harassment and Oplan Bayanihan

These latest forms of harassment we have suffered are but the tip of the iceberg. While on fieldwork, CHESTCORE staff have been subjected to various forms of harassment by state security forces (Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Unit and other paramilitary forces) – questioning our motives for working in far-flung barrios, implying that we have ties or are members of the New People’s Army (NPA), implying that we are teaching the health workers how to care for the gunshot wounds of the NPA.

Worse, as part of their military combat operations, they have insisted on being present during some of our barrio trainings, sitting in on some of the lectures and even commenting on the discussion while the lectures are going on. When the military are around, some of the community health workers are afraid of attending our trainings, and those who do attend are intimidated and cannot participate freely during the discussions. This is a clear violation of the community’s right to safety and security. It is a clear violation of the community’s right to go about their activities without fear or disruption. It is also a violation of our staff’s right to safety and security while doing their jobs.

With the implementation of the AFP’s Oplan Bantay Laya, many community workers like us became victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs). In most cases, the victims of EJKs were first labeled as Communists and/or NPA sympathizers and then subjected to intensifying surveillance and finally, direct threats. Even as the AFP recently announced in its new Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) Bayanihan that they will adhere to Human Rights/ International Humanitarian Law and the Rule of Law, we fear that there are no guarantees that this pattern of red labeling, surveillance, harassment and EJKs will stop.

We assert the people’s right to health

Igorot communities have suffered centuries of marginalization and discrimination. Even today they continue to suffer the highest poverty and malnutrition rates in the entire country. The Philippine government’s meager budget for health fails to deliver even such basic health services as immunization and antituberculosis medications to their far-flung barrios. Now the people’s health and livelihood are endangered further by the encroachment of large-scale mining operations and commercialized agricultural production.

It is unjust that we who volunteer to assist these communities are falsely accused, harassed and endangered. It is unjust that communities who organize and mobilize themselves for self-help are also harassed and endangered. It is even more unjust that, as a result of all these, the people’s health situation deteriorates further.

It is therefore our duty to expose and denounce the human rights violations we health workers and the Cordillera peoples have been subjected to. We do so in behalf of the communities we serve. We do so to assert the people’s right to health.

We stand with our fellow health workers as we appeal for your support

We stand with the many doctor-consultants and specialists who generously treat patients referred to them by the community health workers. We speak out, as well, in behalf of our network of student volunteers who accompany us on fieldwork during their semestral or summer breaks. More importantly, we speak out in behalf of the hundreds of community health workers CHESTCORE has trained and who courageously continue to render health services in their respective barrios.

We also stand with our fellow volunteer health workers all over the Philippines who do the same work and suffer the same harassment. We speak out in solidarity with the Morong 43 and Dr. Chandu Claver. We condemn the killing of Leonard Co and of Dr. Bobby de la Paz.

We are coming out in public to ask you – our families, friends, allies, support network and the general public -- to stand with us as well, to speak out vehemently against the harassment of Cordillera health workers.

ASSERT THE PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO HEALTH! ASSERT OUR HUMAN RIGHTS!
STOP THE HARASSMENT OF ALL CORDILLERA HEALTH WORKERS!
STOP THE HARASSMENT OF ALL CORDILLERA DEVELOPMENT WORKERS!
STOP THE MILITARIZATION OF CORDILLERA COMMUNITIES!
EXPOSE AND OPPOSE OPLAN BAYANIHAN!

Road to recovery: The Morong 43 outside detention

2011-02-05T08:14:00.000-08:00

by Mila Polinar
This article was first published in print in issue 23 of the Philippine Collegian on 24 January 2011.)

The Morong 43, however, were not criminals but were merely victims of flawed military operations. Upon their capture, the Morong 43 were deprived of sleep for 36 hours. They were interrogated continuously and were coerced to admit that they were members of the armed group waging agrarian struggle in the countryside, the New People’s Army (NPA).

Reynaldo “Rey” Macabenta, another member of the Morong 43 and an administrative staff at CHD, remembers hearing screams, gunshots, and other threats of violence. “Parang katayan ng tao,” he describes.

“Grabe ang psychological torture,” says Tere, adding that she copes from the traumatic experience by continually talking about it and making herself busy. Meanwhile, Rey, dubbed as the Mr. Kutingting of the CHD had alluded himself to fixing broken equipment in their office.

After the incident, Tere and Rey returned to the CHD come January and resumed their jobs. “Nagiikot-ikot na kami at nagstart na rin sa health training. Noong nakaraan, nakapagbigay na ulit ako ng vital signs, kumuha ng blood pressure [at] temperature,” narrates Tere.

“Despite what we have gone through, we are resolute in our commitment to serve the poor and lay the foundations of a people-managed health care system,” says Dr. Merry Clamor of CHD’s Health Education, Training and Services Department.

Moving on

On January 24, four members of the Morong 43, including Tere, Rey and Dr. Merry held a medical mission at Lupang Pangako, Urban, Payatas B. They were joined by another member of Morong 43 Delia Ocasla, a volunteer community health worker from Barangay Fairview, Quezon City.

With their return to the communities, Tere shares that her parents fear that she might once again be harassed by the military. “[Ngunit], kung magpapadala kami sa takot, sino yung kawawa, sino yung lugi? Ang magiging lugi doon, yung mga komunidad na sineserbisyohan namin,” reasons Tere.

In her years as a community health worker, the February 6 incident was not the first time she was harassed by soldiers. For instance, soldiers interrupted a health seminar she and co-workers conducted in Dumallan, Pagadian about two years ago, and even took pictures of her and her fellow workers. We were being watched for any activities which may link us with the NPA, says Tere.

Even then, it was through such experiences in far-flung communities that Tere had seen the true state of the health sector in the Philippines. “May mga health center na may sira-sirang bubong, gawa lang sa dikit-dikit na kawayan at walang mga gamit. Hindi napupuntahan ng mga nurse o midwife,” shares Tere.

Beyond freedom

Even as the members of the Morong 43 have now returned to the communities, their issue, it seems, does not stop with their freedom but with the pursuit of justice. The Morong 43 have already filed a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) regarding the torture and military harassment they experienced. The CHR is yet to release the results of the complaint.

We are also calling for the freedom of the Morong 43 members who are still detained, says Rey. As of now, three members of the Morong 43 are still in Camp Bagong Diwa while five are still held by the military in Camp Capinpin. The five allegedly confessed that they were in fact members of the NPA.

Even as members of the 43 claimed to be health workers, the military has continually referred to them as members of the NPA in their website and in various news reports. Meanwhile, the three who are still held in Camp Bagong Diwa are charged with petty crimes such as violating the anti-bouncing check law, among others.

With their experiences in detention, the Morong 43 have come to know the plight of other political prisoners. As such, when the female members of the Morong 43 marched out of Camp Bagong Diwa, they held their fists in the air and together, shouted “Palayain, bilanggong pulitikal.”

“May usaping politikal din sa pagkakadakip sa amin,” says Tere. Rey shares that beyond their freedom, they are also pushing that other political prisoners be freed as well. Indeed, the illegal arrest of the Morong 43 is an assault to the community health workers who only opted to address government negligence in the health sector.

For 2011, the Department of Health was granted a budget of P31.8 billion. While the health budget indeed rose from last year’s P25.65 billion, the 2011 allocation still falls short of the P38.6 billion budget proposed by DOH for this year.

“Napakahalaga ng serbisyong pangkalusugan. [Kung hindi ito mabibigay], mas mararaming nagkakasakit, hindi sila makakapagtrabaho, apektado ang pamilya. Sobrang hirap ang mararanasan ng mamamayan,” says Delia.

In far-flung communities where health services are continually deprived, where the right to a better quality of life is neglected, the need for community health workers cannot be denied. It is for this cause that the Morong 43 steadfastly return to the communities, in hopes of healing others and themselves.

Kidney Capital ng Mundo?

2010-12-25T05:13:00.000-08:00

First segment of PROBE episode that aired on November 21, 2007 on ABS CBN.

Foreigners in need of cheaper medical attention and surgery have been flocking the country since the Philippine government launched its medical tourism program last year. Some 200,000 patients have entered the country in search not only of doctors’ attention but also of a crucial, scarce resource—kidneys from living, non-related donors.

In tonight’s episode, Pinky Webb investigates the increasing number of kidneys for sale that have attracted foreign buyers. She discovers and asks concerned government agencies why the one is to ten ratio of foreign to local kidney transplant patients has not been strictly followed.

Probe looks deeper into the organ donation system, which saves lives but at the same time unwittingly exploits the poorest of the poor. It echoes the question foremost in the minds of medical practitioners and concerned sectors: is medical tourism really helping Filipinos?

Freedom of the Morong 43 is fruit of the people's struggle

2010-12-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

They braved indefinable forms of human rights violations so that they may live to see the day when they will finally be reunited with their families and people they serve.? The Morong 43 are finally free!

Today, ten months of roaring cries for freedom and justice voiced in different languages from all over the world bears fruit.Judge Gina Cenit Escoto, presiding judge of the Morong Regional Trial Court Branch 78 has finally released a decision late in the afternoon today to withdraw all cases filed against all of the 43 health workers.

Thirty-eight of the health workers were detained at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City since May 1 while five others remained in military custody since their illegal arrest at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.

Relatives and supporters have been waiting anxiously outside the Morong RTC since Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima filed for a motion to withdraw the cases Monday this week. They peacefully 'picketed outside' the court building since Wednesday. After the judge released the official decision, court staffs followed by the Morong 43 relatives and supporters proceeded to Camp Bagong Diwa, a civilian detention facility, to deliver the hard copy of the order which will facilitate the release of the detained health workers.

Registered nurse and alliance spokesperson Carlos Montemayor said that the health workers underwent a mandatory physical check-up by prison doctors for clearance, a requirement before a detainee is released from the prison camp's custody.

Nursing mothers Judielyn Oliveros and Mercy Castro were transported from the Philippine General Hospital to Camp Bagong Diwa with their newborns to undergo prison protocols before they too are finally released.

From Taguig, the health workers will proceed to Quezon City for a press conference to thank all the people, including the media for keeping the faith and not giving up on their case. Montemayor said that the Morong 43 took strength and refuge in the massive local and international support this campaign gained since day one adding the struggle to free the 43 is within the overall struggle to free all political prisoners.

"Definitely, this is not the end of their story. The international movement on the campaign for health and human rights welcomes the additional 43 people with burning fervor and inspiration," Montemayor added. ##

Reference:
Carlos Montemayor, RN
0922 499 6237 / (+632) 929 8109

‘Morong 43’ women first to walk out of detention

2010-12-18T06:01:00.000-08:00

By Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Six hours after their lawyers received the courts' orders to discharge them, the female members of the so-called "Morong 43," the group of health workers arrested 10 months ago in Morong, Rizal, on suspicion of being communist rebels, were the first to be released from detention late Friday night.

Delia Ocasla was greeted with cheers from relatives and supporters when she emerged from the gates of the BJMP jail at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City at 11 p.m.

She was the first detainee to be freed among the 23 women detainees after 10 months and 7 days in detention.

Shortly after Ocasla, the other women detainees stepped out of the gates with wide smiles and clenched left fists raised.

The women carried their belongings in plastic bags. One detainee carried a sign that said "Maraming salamat po sa mga sumuporta sa Morong 43 (Many thanks to all supporters of Morong 43)."

Lawyers of the group said the release of the 15 male detainees will be delayed as they were still being processed.

Morong 43 released from Camp Bagong Diwa

(Photo by Mike Alquinto/NPPA Images)

Consumers' Action for Empowerment: Make prices of medicine affordable now!

2009-07-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

Consumers' Action for Empowerment: Make prices of medicine affordable now!

The government should compel multinational pharmaceutical corporations to make their prices affordable for Filipinos instead of giving them the option of voluntary compliance, says consumer group, Consumers' Action for Empowerment.

Launched in February 20, 2009, the group is composed of over a hundred members from different Metro Manila-based religious institutions, health professional organizations, community-based health programs, and people's organizations.

Eleanor Nolasco, RN, one of Consumers' Action for Empowerment conveners said that Mrs. Arroyo's obvious hesitance in giving relief to millions of poor and ailing Filipinos only goes to show her utter subservience to the interests of transnational corporations.

Last July 8, 2009, pharma industry giants Pfizer, Wyeth, Roche, and Sanofi sought an audience with Mrs. Arroyo in Malacanang. Others present were representatives from Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP), Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and Department of Health (DOH). The meeting tackled concerns of the industry's big players on the imposition of a Maximum Drug Retail Price (MDRP). Their basic position is to allow market forces and competition to decide drug prices, instead of the government setting a ceiling.

“For decades, many poor people have suffered and died because they cannot buy exorbitantly-priced medicine. The billions of profit that they have amassed after decades of control on medicine prices should be enough for them to consider the poor's sake this time,” said Nolasco.

She also assailed Mrs. Arroyo's indecisiveness in standing behind the people's right to low-cost and effective medicine by exercising her executive prerogative to impose MDRP on essential medicines. “Why should she provide a 10-day window period for these profit-driven companies to decide on voluntary compliance? If the president of the Republic of the Philippines is genuinely sincere in lowering medicine retail prices, she should demand and not appeal to these companies to substantially slash their prices to even lower than 50%.”

Furthermore, the convener said, for every single day that Mrs. Arroyo hesitates to put her foot down on making essential medicine accessible, the thousands of Filipinos, barely on survival income, are further deprived of money they could have used to buy food and other necessities.

Meanwhile, Nolasco bashed Pfizer's discount card offer to DOH amounting to P100 million saying the attempt is tantamount to bribery. She challenged Pfizer's recent open letter addressed to the Filipino people, “if Pfizer indeed has 'absolute commitment to the people of the Philippines to do what's right legally and ethically', why don't they just slash their prices and let all patients benefit from their medicines at a lower cost instead of just limiting the discounts to 1.8 million Sulit Card holders.”

Nolasco stressed that the public should not be misled into believing that the pending executive order on Maximum Drug Retail Price will be the end to decades of stranglehold by multinational companies of the local drug industry. “While the MDRP is a welcome step towards regulating medicine prices, a short-term Drug Price Regulatory Board represented by different stakeholders should be in place.”

She added that a crucial element in making essential medicines accessible to the people is the development of a self-reliant national drug industry that is responsive to the health needs of the Filipinos. “The government should provide incentives to the industry's small local players such as tax holidays and exemptions as well as lower fees on different BFAD requirements,” she said.

“One year has passed but RA 9502 failed to keep its promise of making essential medicines accessible to the people. The law failed primarily because it does not have any provision which removes the control and influence of foreign pharmaceutical companies on all aspects of the industry. These giant companies are not expected to just give up their control over the market from where they rake in huge profits. Hence, the Filipino people should remain ever vigilant and expose possible illicit relationships and sweetheart deals struck between these pharmaceutical companies and willing locals.”

“The need of Filipinos for efficacious and affordable essential medicines can only be met when a strong national healthcare system is in place and under a government whose policies are in the best interest of its people,” she concluded.

Reference:

CONSUMERS' ACTION FOR EMPOWERMENT
#35 Examiner Street, West Triangle, Quezon City, Philippines 1104
Telefax: 929-8109

Eleanor Nolasco, RN
Convener, Consumers' Action for Empowerment
0905 325 5223

CHD to DOH: reach out to the grassroots

2009-07-05T23:50:00.000-07:00

On July 1, 2009, the Department of Health (DOH) posted in its website that it is “further bolstering its mitigation efforts against Influenza A(H1N1) in light of the anticipated rise of cases in the country.” Moreover,the posting said that “This is in accordance with the directives of President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo last week to prepare well-equipped isolation wards in all state-run hospitals throughout the country.”

Sadly, this pronouncement on the so-called bolstering of efforts against the disease was done 1,709 cases later.

Influenza A(H1N1) has already caused panic and hysteria among the general public. In fact, via constant media exposure and cases countdowns, DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III fueled more the public panic.

It can be remembered that during the first weeks of the disease in the country, the DOH poured a considerable amount of taxpayers' money on paid advertisements instead of using its resources on exhausting all means to educate people in the communities and taking first steps in preventing the outbreak. At that point, A(H1N1) was infective but not severe.

How the DOH and the government as a whole act now is not very surprising though. It has always been reactive in dealing with disease outbreaks while existing communicable but preventable diseases continue to cause fatality all over the country.

For instance, the number of dengue fever cases reaches thousands and its death toll reach hundreds yearly including those among very young children. From January to May this year, DOH reported 6, 537 cases of dengue.

In the National Capital Region, there have been 463 cases recorded in Manila and Quezon City alone. In the cities of Cebu and Santiago, there were 296 and 200 cases respectively. Meanwhile, 62 persons have already died of dengue in the country this year.

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Global TB Report 2008, the Philippines ranks ninth on the list of 22 high-burden tuberculosis (TB) countries in the world. TB is the sixth greatest cause of morbidity and mortality in the country, the report stipulated. The country’s current ranking translates to some 250,000 Filipinos being infected with TB annually and 75 patients dying everyday from the disease.

As an agency existing to care for the health of the people, it should go beyond press conferences and media advertisements that are rather superficial. It should directly go to the communities and launch conduct massive health education drives in which people would know and understand A(H1N1) comprehensively alongside other health issues existing.

However, this is not a question that DOH must answer alone but a responsibility of the entire government.

But most importantly, the socio-economic needs of the people must first be met to ensure that families and individuals have the capacity to provide for their basic needs. Specifically, workers need jobs that will provide a liveable income and peasants need land which they can cultivate and get enough produce to meet their basic needs.

How can one prevent A(H1N1) disease through proper nutrition at these situations? While the best way to prevent acquiring the flu is by building up body resistance, how can poor Filipino families, who hardly have anything to eat, go by that DOH prescription?

It has been long overdue for the Arroyo administration to rethink the policies and programs it has implemented. The government should focus its attention in creating policies and programs that will prevent, manage and control diseases instead of merely implementing knee-jerk responses and stop-gap measures. Instead of reinventing the wheel in responding to outbreaks, why not come up with a sustainable and comprehensive plan that will truly address people's vulnerability to diseases?

The state should come up with a program that will genuinely address people's health. It is only through a sound health care system that the people can be armed with resistance and proper nutrition against whatever disease outbreaks that may come along.###

Consumers' Action for Empowerment stage protest “people's verdict: cheaper med law is a failure”

2009-07-02T23:48:00.000-07:00

Different organizations under Consumers' Action for Empowerment (Consumers' Action) staged “Hatol ng Bayan: Bigo ang Cheaper Medicine Law” (People's Verdict: Cheaper Medicine Law is a Failure), a street protest in Mendiola, Manila last June 5, 2008.

It was the eve of the first year of enactment of “The Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008,” or Republic Act 9502 more popularly known as the cheaper medicine law, one of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's centerpiece programs, which promised to bring prices of medicine down.

The protest aimed to deliver to Malacanang palace the people's verdict on the law. For Consumers' Action, RA 9502, enacted on June 6, 2008 failed because it does not have provisions that address the very reasons why the prices of medicine in the country are high.

Continuing monopoly

According to Dr. Julie Caguiat, one of the conveners of Consumers' Action, the law does not remove monopoly control of transnational corporations (TNCs) in the drug industry and neither does it contain provision for the development of a local drug industry.

Estimates put the share of TNCs in the Philippines from 68 to 72 percent in sales of medicines and pharmaceuticals alone. Last year, pharmaceutical sales in the country amounted to P116 billion.

Caguiat added that although between 80 and 90 percent of essential drugs being sold in the Philippines are no longer patented, the law did not provide for the development of a sound local drug industry that could have taken advantage of the fact that previously patented medicines can now be developed by local manufacturers.

Consumers' Action also criticized the policy of dependence being fostered by RA 9502, which gave particular focus on drug importation, including parallel importation. A parallel import is a non-counterfeit product imported from another country without securing the permission of the intellectual property owner. Parallel importation can eventually kill what remains of the local drug industry in the Philippines.

Moreover, Caguiat said that RA 9502 did not create a price regulatory board that could usher the democratic representation of consumers and other sectors in the market.

Eleanor Nolasco of the Health Action Information Network (HAIN) briefly presented the result of their study on the implementation of the law. Sadly, the study found no significant decrease on the prices of essential medicine in the country after one year.

Subservience to WTO

Dr. Gene Nisperos of Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) on the other hand, denounced the role of World Trade Organization (WTO) and its policies on health in the current health system of the country.

Under the WTO-Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (WTO-TRIPS), patent holders have the right to exclusively manufacture, use and dictate the selling price of a patented medicine. In the Philippine drug market, more than 70% of the manufacturers are TNCs.

Nisperos also pointed out Macapagal-Arroyo's regime as responsible for the worsening of the Philippine health situation, with her lack of genuine concern to the basic needs of the majority of the Filipinos.

On top of the government's subservience to WTO-influenced policies, it also failed to develop a self-reliant national drug industry that is responsive to the health needs of the people. There is also no government support for local drug manufacturers in terms of tax holidays and research and development subsidies.

Disappointed

Juanito Torres, a patient at the Tala Leprosarium in Manila and current president of Tala Hansenites Council, shared that leprosy patients including him, have experienced being given low-quality medicine for their ailments. Specifically, Torres pointed out that there was a time they were given antibiotics that was made of gaw-gaw, a local starch.

However, Torres said they did not have a choice because they could not afford to buy their own medicine because of its sky-rocketing prices. He added that they are disappointed with the cheaper medicine law because “isang taon na mula noong isabatas ang cheaper medicine law pero sobrang taas pa rin ang presyo ng mga gamot,” (a year have passed and prices of medicine remain very high). Torres spoke for thousands of patients who waited in vain for a substantive decrease in prices of life saving pills.

Creative protest

Amid rain showers, a dramatic presentation in a form of a street play in different frames was performed by the members of Kilos Bayan para sa Kalusugan (KBK / People's Action for Health).

The protest action was successfully and peacefully held.

Aside from HEAD, KBK, TALA Hansenites and HAIN, the Alliance for Health Workers (AHW), Community Medicine Development Foundation (COMMED), Health Alliance for Human Rights (HAHR), Health Students' Action (HSA), Bayan Muna Partylist and Council for Health and Development (CHD) joined the protest action.

Launched on February 20, 2009 the Consumers' Action also aims to monitor the prices, efficacy and quality of essential medicines in the market, launch educational discussions on the issue of high cost of medicines and push for the implementation of the Generics Law and National Drugs Policy.

For the group, access to essential medicines is part of a people’s inherent right to health. The need of Filipinos for efficacious and affordable medicines can only be met when a strong national health care system is in place and under a government whose policies are for the best interest of its people.#

Poor and Sick Filipinos Pay Dearly for Failure of Cheaper-Medicines Law

2009-06-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat

MANILA — A law that was supposed to provide cheaper and quality medicines to Filipinos has failed to deliver on its promise — a promise that was hamstrung by the law’s own defects and the seeming inability of the government to muster the political will to go against transnational drug companies, according to health and consumer advocates.

Called “The Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008,” or Republic Act 9502, the law sought to correct what many called a scandalous anomaly in a poor country like the Philippines, where medicines and drugs are among the most expensive in Asia.

The law “proved to be irrelevant and useless,” said Dr. Gene Nisperos, vice-chairman of the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) in a conference last week. “In hospitals, whether private or public, prices of medicine have not changed with this law,” he said.

Because of its many flaws, RA 9502 has failed to bring down the “inhumane” prices of drugs and medicines, said the Consumers’ Action for Empowerment (CAE).

Amid the usual finger-pointing and bickering, the CAE said that the Department of Health (DOH) isn’t the only party accountable for the failure. “Although we’re in agreement that the Senate and other government fora should take the DOH to task for its failure in implementing the law, we’ve been saying that the law itself has inherent flaws,” Nisperos said.

TNC Control

The consumer group traces the uselessness of the law largely to its failure to break “the control of transnational corporations on all aspects of the [drug] industry.” Estimates put the share of transnational companies in sales alone of medicines and pharmaceuticals in the Philippines from 68 to 72 percent. Last year, pharmaceutical sales in the country amounted to P116 billion.

Health and consumer advocates protesting the high price of medicine. (Photo by Marya Salamat / bulatlat.com)

According to the group, RA 9502, signed by President Arroyo on June 6, 2008, also failed because, although between 80 and 90 percent of essential drugs being sold in the Philippines are no longer patented, the law did not provide for the development of a sound local drug industry that could have taken advantage of the fact that previously patented medicines can now be developed by local manufacturers.

CAE criticized the policy of dependence being fostered by RA 9502, which gives particular focus on drug importation, including parallel importation.

While it would seem that consumers can benefit from parallel importation, it actually discourages the development of the local drug industry. In fact, RA 9502 has not shown any support to local manufacturers, said Eleanor Nolasco of Health Action Information Network (HAIN). Eventually, it will kill the Philippine pharmaceutical industry, she said.

Moreover, the law failed to make sure that parallel importation, such as it is, will redound to the benefit of poor Filipinos.

Parallel Importation

Under parallel importation, the same drug that is manufactured and priced high in the Philippines can be imported – with or without the consent of the patent owner — from another country and sold here for prices that are several times lower than the ones produced locally. This is a method that transnational drug companies like Pfizer oppose because it obviously cuts their profits in countries where drugs are expensive, like the Philippines.

At first glance, parallel importation seems beneficial to consumers. But, according to the health-advocacy group KilosBayan Para sa Kalusugan, this is not necessarily true.

According to the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC), the trading and importing arm of the government, drugs that can be imported from India or Pakistan can be sold at half the price in local pharmacies.

But KilosBayan, in a primer, said these imported drugs can be sold at a much lower price. It cited Ponstan (mefenamic acid), which can be bought in India for the equivalent of P2.58 and in Pakistan P1.29. And yet, the same pain killer is sold for P11.25 in the 10,000 or so Botika ng Barangay outlets set up by the Arroyo administration, which promised half-priced medicines. Ponstan is sold for P25 pesos in commercial pharmacies.

“Why set the reduction of prices at just half of commercial prices when this could be lowered even more?” KilosBayan asked in its primer, citing the prices in India and Pakistan.

KilosBayan said parallel importation has not been maximized to the advantage of consumers. In fact, according to the Council for Health and Development, a health NGO, “the provisions on parallel importation bear no significant impact on the prices of medicines because even before the passage of the law, parallel importation is utilized by the government in its Botika ng Barangay program.”

Besides, the government only allots P1 billion for parallel importation — in an industry that is worth P100 billion.

Drug Cartel

Another major factor why the cheaper-medicine law failed to make a dent on the high cost of drugs and medicines is the fact that, according to data from the PITC, 80 percent of drugs being manufactured for multinational corporations is done by one company. Moreover, as much as 70 percent of wholesale distribution is handled by a sister company.

In the end, according to CHD, “more than 60 percent of the retailing of finished products is sold through Mercury Drug, which has more than 600 outlets nationwide.”

In other words, there’s an existing cartel of drug manufacturers and distributors that continue to dominate the market despite RA 9502. Indeed, one of the law’s biggest defects is it did not provide for the creation of a regulatory board for drug prices – a board that could have broken the stranglehold of this cartel — despite the strong clamor and recommendation of health-sector representatives and people’s organizations during public hearings when the law was still being crafted.

As a result, the law squandered an opportunity to ensure the democratic representation of consumers and other stakeholders that could ensure that the law’s intent is followed.

Currently, the task of monitoring medicines being sold in the country is with the Bureau of Food and Drugs, an agency under the DOH that progressive health-sector representatives consider as weak.

And to think that RA 9502 gives President Arroyo the power to impose price caps on the retail prices of drugs and medicines. She never exercised that power.

In fact, on the first anniversary of RA 9052, leaders of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) were personally thanking President Arroyo for the government’s support in ensuring that their business would remain “viable.”

PHAP executive director Reiner W. Gloor thanked President Arroyo for assuring them that “we religiously implement laws that uphold patent protection.” PHAP, an industry lobby group, is largely composed of multinational drug manufacturers and providers of most of the country’s patented medicines.

Generic Drugs

The domination of the local drug industry by TNCs also has an impact on the affordability of medicines and on the campaign to lower prices through the prescription of generic drugs. Because not all drugs and medicines have their respective generic counterpart, the situation becomes even dire.

According to CHD, there are some 600 drugs in the Philippines that are considered essential. But of this number, only 200 are made by Philippine companies. The other 400 off-patent drugs do not have local generic counterparts and are thus dependent on importation, CHD said.

This partly explains why the use of generic drugs is low in the Philippines. In 2006, for instance, generic drugs account for only five percent of medicines sold locally. Compare that to the 50 percent generic-drug use in the United States.

Token Legislation

Although the intent of RA 9502 is to address the problem of expensive medicines, it became an example of token legislation because it did not support the local drug industry and enable the health sector to monitor its own pharmaceutical policy. This much is clearer among the growing number of young health workers.

In a rally by nurses demanding an increased in their entry-level salary grade, the health workers criticized the government’s disproportionate response to the AH1N1 or swine flu epidemic. According to them, other diseases that are much more common and much deadlier – such as tuberculosis or diarrhea — have largely been ignored.

“Despite the so-called cheaper-medicines law, we haven’t brought down the incidences of poverty-related diseases. Instead, morbidity and mortality rates have even increased,” Nolasco, of HAIN, said. For one, there’s still widespread malnutrition. “It’s not only fatal, it can also cause learning difficulties and disabilities,” Nolasco pointed out.

To this day, Nolasco added, diarrhea still kills; cholera has returned; pneumonia, broncho-pneumonia, and other illnesses that were supposedly controlled years ago are manifesting again. There is also a resurgence of malaria and dengue cases, she said.

Apart from rising death rates due to poverty-related diseases, or diseases that sprung and became fatal because of lack of proper nutrition and sanitation, among others, Nisperos of HEAD also cited the impact of the law on the second biggest health problem of Filipinos — chronic diseases such as hypertension. “If you are stricken with it, you’re forced to be under medication for the rest of your life.”

Without discounting the number of the dying, Nisperos called attention to the growing number of people who can’t function well because of their failure to acquire medicines for their chronic illnesses. “We’ve been saying for a long time — our peoples’ inability to access their needed medicines don’t just result in many untimely deaths, it also results in many suffering pain instead of becoming healthy, productive citizens.” There are more people, Nisperos said, “whose illnesses get worse because they can’t buy the medication they regularly need.”

And being a member of PhilHealth won’t help either, Nisperos said. “Further illustrating the inutility of the cheaper-medicine law, it didn’t even get PhilHealth’s cooperation, as PhilHealth doesn’t cover medicines for chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart ailments.

RA 9502, in other words, “has absolutely no impact on health services,” Nisperos said. (Bulatlat.com) [1]

Article printed from Bulatlat: http://www.bulatlat.com/main

CHD to Dep-ed noodle scam: shameful project

2009-05-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

The Council for Health and Development (CHD) tagged DepEd’s noodle scam as “deceitful and scandalous” in a statement today.

CHD, a national consortium of more than 50 community-based health programs in the Philippines, scored the Department of Education’s recent distribution of 19,418,880 packs of instant noodles to more than 19 million public school children in the country.

In a statement, CHD Executive Director Eleanor A. Jara, M.D. said that “the millions of pesos spent by the government through DepEd to buy overpriced noodles for its so-called Food for the School program that aims to give proper nutrition to school children is an artificial and stop-gap measure to mask the problem behind a starving nation.

She further stated that many people question the true nutritional value of instant noodles including those that were distributed to public school children.

“Despite their companies’ aggressive marketing of instant noodles, the product is believed to contain far less nutrition than it actually claims. Natural food with high nutritional value remains to be the best source of proper nutrition. Sadly though, millions of Filipinos do not earn enough to buy adequate food,” she added.

Dr. Jara expressed that instead of nutrition, DepEd’s noodles gave those children and their families false hopes that the government is actually doing something for the children. She tagged the instant-noodle-program as “a deceitful and shameful show.”

“On hindsight, the more than P400 million spent to purchase a single measly meal will never give more than 19 million public school children brighter minds but will probably fatten the pockets of corrupt officials involved in the transaction,” she explained.

In their statement, CHD contends that if the government has sincere intentions of helping impoverished school children achieve better nutrition for better minds, it should look into the real circumstances that deprive these children of a balanced and healthful diet.

Moreover, they said that it is very likely that these children come from families who live on a hand-to-mouth existence and whose parents are jobless or underemployed. Hence, the only means to address undernourishment in schoolchildren is to provide their families jobs with livable income and access to basic social services.

Dr. Jara said that DepEd should rethink their feeding program. Instead of spending hundreds of millions for what appears now to be a shameful crime, it should focus on addressing the root causes of nutrition deficiency among public school children.

Lastly, CHD challenges this land’s lawmakers to seriously look into this scandalous project that is a threat to our children’s future.

CHD says Dep-ed scam shameful

2009-05-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

Council for Health and Development (CHD) tagged DepEd’s noodle scam as “deceitful and scandalous” in a statement today.

CHD, a national consortium of more than 50 community-based health programs in the Philippines, scored the Department of Education’s recent distribution of 19,418,880 packs of instant noodles to more than 19 million public school children in the country.

In a statement, CHD Executive Director Eleanor A. Jara, M.D. said that “the millions of pesos spent by the government through DepEd to buy overpriced noodles for its so-called Food for the School program that aims to give proper nutrition to school children is an artificial and stop-gap measure to mask the problem behind a starving nation.

She further stated that many people question the true nutritional value of instant noodles including those that were distributed to public school children. “Despite their companies’ aggressive marketing of instant noodles, the product is believed to contain far less nutrition than it actually claims. Natural food with high nutritional value remains to be the best source of proper nutrition. Sadly though, millions of Filipinos do not earn enough to buy adequate food,” she added.

Dr. Jara expressed that instead of nutrition, DepEd’s noodles gave those children and their families false hopes that the government is actually doing something for the children. She tagged the instant-noodle-program as “a deceitful and shameful show.”

“On hindsight, the more than P400 million spent to purchase a single measly meal will never give more than 19 million public school children brighter minds but will probably fatten the pockets of corrupt officials involved in the transaction,” she explained.

In their statement, CHD contends that if the government has sincere intentions of helping impoverished school children achieve better nutrition for better minds, it should look into the real circumstances that deprive these children of a balanced and healthful diet.

Moreover, they said that it is very likely that these children come from families who live on a hand-to-mouth existence and whose parents are jobless or underemployed. Hence, the only means to address undernourishment in schoolchildren is to provide their families jobs with livable income and access to basic social services.

Dr. Jara said that DepEd should rethink their feeding program. Instead of spending hundreds of millions for what appears now to be a shameful crime, it should focus on addressing the root causes of nutrition deficiency among public school children.

Lastly, CHD challenges this land’s lawmakers to seriously look into this scandalous project that is a threat to our children’s future.

The deteriorating health care system in the Philippines

2009-05-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

Tambalan December 2008. click here, for the stories.

Tambalan special issue

2009-03-31T19:54:00.000-07:00

CBHP celebrates 35 years. click here for the stories.

RH bill misses the nail's head

2009-03-30T23:31:00.000-07:00

Various arguments regarding House Bill 5043 otherwise known as the Reproductive Health Bill center on whether population control will actually alleviate poverty or whether the bill is moral or immoral. But community-based health programs say the proposed law missed the nail’s head.

Over population?

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), there are three babies born every minute, almost two thousand in an hour, and almost four-thousand every day. This year, the NSO projects the population to balloon at 92.23-million making it one of the most populous countries in Asia. On the other hand, population density is 277 per square kilometer while the gross domestic product per capita is $3,400

In an online article by Emil Jurado, a columnist in the Manila Standard Today, he cited fifty other countries which have a much lower density whose per capita is also much lower. There are also thirty-six countries which are more densely populated, yet their GDP per capital is also much higher. He argued that all these simply mean that the few are not at all richer, and the many are not always poorer.

If over population is not the root cause of poverty in a country like the Philippines, what then is the source of the problem?

Wrong priorities

Recently, the P1.414-trillion 2009 national budget was approved by Malacañang. Simply put, the government has allotted each of the more than 90-million Filipinos with a P15,331 budget for year 2009 or a meager P42 per day. Instead of beefing up funds for social services, the government allotted P252-billion for debt service. Originally, the amount for debt servicing was cut by Congress from P 252 billion to P 202 billion, but Mrs. Arroyo’s veto restored the original amount for debt servicing. The Department of National Defense (DND) on the other hand will receive P56.5-billion, as funding for highly questionable wars and military spending. In contrast, government agencies who are expected to provide basic social services like the Department of Health (DoH) received a measly P27.9-billion. Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) was allotted P10.5-billion (177% increase from last year’s allocation of P4.8-billion). However, bulk of the budget will be given away to dole-out programs such as donations and subsidies.

Beyond numbers

In a statement, Council for Health and Development (CHD) expressed that the issue of poverty should be viewed beyond the issue of an oversized population. Although the Reproductive Health Bill is “anchored on the rationale that sustainable human development is better assured with a manageable population of healthy, educated, and productive citizens,” CHD argued that managing the population through population control is not an assurance of genuine human or people’s development. They further stated that the worsening poverty is not caused by over population but by farmers’ problems of landlessness, workers’ lack of jobs and low wages, and government policies that favor big business interests over people’s welfare.

Accessible health care system

Reproductive health must be viewed and not separated from the overall context of people’s health. As the economy worsens, the state of the public health system also deteriorates. And with it, women’s health, especially those belonging to the marginalized sectors become all the more at stake. Year in and year out, the government continues to fail in its efforts to address people’s health problems. Consequently, many women’s and children’s lives are endangered. Moreover, the government’s hell-bent efforts to push for the privatization of public health facilities have made matters worse (e.g. collection of out-of-pocket fees in public hospitals) for poor women’s access to a comprehensive health care including reproductive health.

The debate on reproductive health vis a vis population can go on and on. But at the end of the day, it is the government’s responsibility to ensure accessible health services including reproductive health services. In particular, women should be provided with necessary information regarding reproductive health including all types of family planning methods to guide them in their decisions.#

please click here for the story in pdf.

Tambalan December 2008

2009-03-30T23:12:00.000-07:00

click here to read the whole issue.

The burden of renal diseases

2009-03-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

About 1.2 million Filipinos today are suffering from kidney diseases, requiring either dialysis or a kidney transplant for them to live. Among the leading causes of kidney failure in the country are diabetes (41%), inflammation of the kidney (24%) and high blood pressure (22%).

According to the Department of Health, kidney disease is now one of the top ten causes of death among Filipinos wherein 7,000 die annually due to kidney malfunction. Because of the increasing number of Filipinos with kidney disease, it is now considered among the top seven health problems in the country.

Worldwide, there is also an alarming level of kidney disease with more than 500 million persons suffering from some form of kidney damage. Over 1.5 million of them are kept alive either through dialysis or transplantation. Every year, over 12 million individuals die prematurely of cardiovascular diseases linked to chronic kidney disease.

Costly treatment

In the Philippines, the treatment of kidney diseases is very costly and unaffordable.

Dialysis treatment uses artificial devices to perform the function of the kidney at about 15%, which is enough to sustain life but needs to be performed adequately on a regular basis (2-3 times a week) for life. Patients without sufficient dialysis are weak and show many of the symptoms that led to their diagnosis. Malnourished and unable to work, they tend to survive only until the next dialysis treatment. A patient has to spend P25,000 to P46,000 a month or P300,000 to P552,000 a year for his or her dialysis. Maintenance medication costs about P20,000 a month.

Kidney transplantation offers the best option for patients with kidney failure as shown by foreign and local studies, according to Romina Angangco Danguilan, chair of the NKTI’s Department of Adult Nephrology. In her study, she noted that the quality of life of a transplant patient is superior to one on dialysis. Kidney transplantation cost ranges from P500,000 to a million. Post-operation medication costs about P12,000 a month.

Because treatment is very expensive and draining to the pocket, it was reported that in 2007, only 73% of Filipino patients with kidney failure were able to afford necessary treatment.

No government support

Patients with PhilHealth coverage can only claim half of the cost of their treatment and cash out for the remaining cost. According to National Kidney Transplant Institute, only 15% of the partially-subsidized patients are PhilHealth members.

Poor kidney patients survive through assistance and borrowings from relatives and friends. Many of them had to beg around for funds from politicians and charitable organizations to pay for their treatment. Even patients who can afford admit that the burden of their treatment cost is heavily draining their families’ resources.

Dr. Lyn Almazan-Gomez, former president of the Philippine Society of Nephrologists said that there is no “free treatment” for kidney diseases. “It would be very draining for the government to shoulder treatment costs for renal patients considering the amount involved,” said Dr. Remedios De Belen-Uriarte, Department Manager of the Renal Disease Control Program of the National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI). She said that with limited income and resources, even NKTI can hardly afford to expand its services.

The NKTI is the government’s specialty health facility for kidney transplant and kidney-related diseases. In its out-patient hemodialysis unit, about two-thirds of the patients are pay patients who are able to afford the full amount of treatment costs and are given priority in the dialysis treatments. Only one-third of the patients are relatively poor service patients who avail of the discounts on hospital fees and charges given by the social services section but would have to wait for days to acquire a slot in the dialysis treatment. Regularity of dialysis treatment is very crucial for kidney patients because delay in such treatments would mean danger and may call for more expensive emergency procedures if not attended to immediately.

In 2007, NKTI records showed that of the 336 patients who were given transplantation procedures, 231 or 69% were pay patients and only 105 or 31% were service patients.

Prevention is best move

Prevention is the best move to counter the worsening problem on kidney disease in the country.

Kidney diseases are preventable, according to Dr. Uriarte. She emphasized the importance of early recognition of the causes to prevent or delay the development of kidney problems that usually end to kidney failure. That is why the REDCOP or Renal Disease Control Program under the NKTI, gives emphasis to the prevention aspect of controlling the spread of kidney diseases, according to Dr. Uriarte.

Playing a major role in the prevention of renal diseases, of course, is having a healthy lifestyle, which includes proper nutrition, regular exercise and timely physical check up.

The government appears to be giving less attention to combat the kidney disease problem. The Department of Health has no specific program to address this. Dr. Uriarte pointed out that no single centavo is given by the government in the campaign against renal diseases. She said that REDCOP depends on the funds that NKTI allocates to the program from the institution’s income.

Dr. Eleanor A. Jara, Executive Director of Council for Health and Development (CHD) said that it is the responsibility of the government to decisively exert the effort to address the worsening problem on renal diseases in the country given the prevailing economic difficulties confronting poor Filipinos these days.

Much more with the prevailing economic difficulties, the government must prioritize people’s health. This means increasing the share of health in the national budget from the less than one percent at present to as much as five percent of the country’s total production following the World Health Organization’s prescription. It also means unburdening the people in paying onerous debts incurred by the government and decreasing the budget for huge military spending.

Sources:
info@worldkidneyday.org
www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2003/12/13;
sree1010.wordpress.com/2009/02/04;
abs-cbnnews.com/07/29/2008;
www.positivenewsmedia.net/.../Gov;
PIA Press Release, 12-04-2008; REDCOP/NKTI

The Dengue Chronicles

2009-03-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

Dengue fever, an infectious tropical fever contracted through mosquito bites used to occur only during rainy season.

In the Philippines though, it has become an all-year round threat. In the first six months of the year 2008, there were 15,061 people afflicted by dengue with 172 deaths. Manila has the highest incidence rate, followed by Quezon City, Caloocan and Pasig.

Even at the start of the 2008, records at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila have shown that there has been 152 percent increase in the number of dengue cases compared to the same period in 2007.

Dengue also hit the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Rizal, Negros Occidental, Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental. Again, compared with 2007, in Negros Occidental, dengue cases have increased by 50 percent while in Northern Mindanao, there was a 69 percent increase.

A disease of poverty

Dengue fever is a disease attributable to poverty. The National Center for National Disease Prevention and Control said that there was a direct proportion between population density and dengue.

People from congested communities, where mosquitoes can easily find breeding place on worn-out tires, stagnant drainage and dirty surroundings, are more prone to this disease.

Sadly, detection of dengue usually comes late due to financial constraints of the people affected especially with the very expensive cost of health care even in the government hospitals. These contribute to the increase in the mortality of dengue victims yearly.

Sound public health care system

Even with the few existing laws that mandate the Local Government Units and other government agencies to involve themselves in disease control programs such as the Code on Sanitation (1975), Local Government Code (1993), Ecological Solid Waste Management (2000), and the Clean Water Act (2004) and the National Dengue Control Program, communicable diseases remain to be the top leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the country.

The worsening threat of dengue fever is but a manifestation of government neglect of the public health care system.

Fighting dengue fever requires more than stopgap solutions. It requires a government that prioritizes the health of its people - meaning a public health care that is comprehensive and responsive to our needs and with adequate budget allocation.

First and foremost, dengue is a preventable illness.

Moreover, the steps to prevent cointracting dengue are very simple and easy to follow. With a sound and pro-active public health care system, Dengue will be easier to combat. On the other hand, it also requires mobilization and active participation of the people in the communities.

Launching campaigns that include awareness raising and education is also an effective solution. Organizations within communities should actively cooperate with other local agencies to form measures in prevention and management of dengue.

Again, dengue is a preventable disease and as we all know, as in every disease, prevention is better than cure.#