Wednesday, October 13, 2010

VPHCS seeks accreditation from DSWD

A representative of the Standards Bureau of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Central Office recently visited the Visayas Primary Health Care Services, Inc.

Mr. Hernan Z. Perez met with the management committee and staff of the VPHCS last September 23 – 24 as part of the accreditation process of the VPHCS with the DSWD.




The accreditation process follows DSWD Administrative Order No. 1 7 series of 2008 “Rules and Regulations on the Registration and Licensing of Social Welfare and Development Agencies and Accreditation of Social Welfare and Development Programs and Services” which regulates and enforces social welfare and development standards to both public and private organizations in the country that engage in social welfare and development activities.

The VPHCS was given by the DSWD a Certificate of Registration and License to Operate as a social welfare and development agency (SWDA) on June 28, 2010. This means that the VPHCS is officially recognized by the DSWD as a SWA within the purview of social welfare and development and has a legal permit to operate as such.

Accreditation would mean that its programs and services have met the minimum standards set by the government

Being a registered and licensed SWA, the VPHCS is now included in the DSWD's Registry of Registered, Licensed and/or Accredited Social Welfare SWDAs, will receive technical assistance from the DSWD on programs and services implementation; can participate in DSWD's capability building and skills enhancement; can receive endorsement for duty free entry of foreign donations; and receive other benefits and privileges that may be provided from time to time.

After being accredited, the VPHCS shall also enjoy additional benefits including, for level 1 of accreditation, publication of VPHCS good practices and success stories in the DSWD publications and posting on the DSWD website; and endorsement of project proposals; level 2, paper presentation abroad, depending on available opportunities; and nomination for travel local and abroad to participate in relevant training/conferences as part of the Philippine delegation; and level 3, plaque of recognition and cash incentive; recognition a model SWDA and laboratory for trainings and research; and authority to undertake training on their expertise and to charge corresponding fees.

Mr. Perez went through the documents submitted by the VPHCS in its application for accreditation, including the VPHCS manual of operations, profile of employees, profile of the governing board, profile of clients, latest narrative reports and financial statements, and work and financial plan.

He also visited Sitio Back of Matimco, Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City, one of the project sites of the VPHCS, where he talked with community health workers and leaders of the people’s organization who are working with the VPHCS in its existing community-based health program.

Mr. Perez made several recommendations to improve the operations of the VPHCS which were welcomed by the management committee. An action plan was later signed by Mr. Perez and Petty Orbeta de Castro, VPHCS executive director signifying the intention of the VPHCS to comply with the said recommendations in order for its accreditation to be granted.


* certificate shall be granted based on the expiration date of the issued accreditation

* certificate. The accredited SWDAs shall receive the following additional benefits

* depending on the level of compliance to set standards:

c.l.
Level 1 of Accreditation
i. Documentation of good practices and success stories shall be featured in
DSWD annual report and Social Welfare and Development Journals as well
as posting on the DSWD website;
ii. Endorsement of project proposals; and
iii.Other
benefits and privileges may be provided from time to time as deemed
appropriate by the Department.

c.2. Level 2 of Accreditation
i.
Paper presentation abroad, depending on available opportunities; and
ii. Nomination
for travel local and abroad to participate In relevant
training/conferences as part of the Philippine delegation.
c.3. Level 3 of Accreditation
i.
Plaque of recognition and cash incentive;
ii. Recognized as a model SWDA and laboratory for trainings and research;
iii.Authority to undertake training on their expertise and charge corresponding
fees; and
iv.Recommendation
for a seat on appropriate councils in areas where expertise
is required.

Monday, October 11, 2010

VPHCS joins dengue campaign

The VPHCS has joined hands with government agencies, local government agencies and civil society groups to stop the dengue outbreak in Cebu.

With people’s organizations in various urban poor communities where dengue cases have been reported or the population is vulnerable, the VPHCS is conducting health awareness drives on the cause of the dreaded viral disease and its signs and symptoms, and cleanliness drives to rid of mosquito breeding places.

On Sept. 18, VPHCS physician Dr. Erlinda Posadas and Cebu Institute of Medicine (CIM) student Serah Allera discussed about dengue fever among the residents of Sitio Mahayahay, Barangay Pasil. A resident also shared how her three children recently were admitted with the disease. Residents are now intensifying their cleanliness drives.

Dr.Erlinda Posadas with Pasil residents

CIM student Serah Allera talks about dengue with Pasil residents

On Sept. 24, University of Southern Philippines (USP) nursing instructor Zane Omega and two nurse volunteers of VPHCS conducted a health education class with residents of Sitio Cahipa, Barangay Hipodromo. The activity was organized by the Nagkahiusang Lumolupyo sa Cahipa ug Bakante or NALCABA, the local people’s organization. Nearly 50 residents joined the activity.

USP nursing instructor talk about dengue in Hipodromo

Two nurses talk about the 4 S's in dengue

Hipodromo residents listen about dengue

Another dengue information drive was conducted in Sitio Back of Matimco in Subangdaku, Mandaue City on October 4.

Posters and leaflets from the Department of Health –Regional Office were distributed by the VPHCS in various urban poor communities.

Dengue campaign in Sitio Back of Matimco

The VPHCS is also working with community health workers (CHW) and leaders of its partner people’s organizations in order to sustain the information drives and cleanliness campaigns in their communities.

The VPHCS is also set to conduct blood typing services among residents of dengue-prone communities in order to come up with a list of blood donors in emergency cases.

Pasil residents listen about dengue fever

Friday, October 8, 2010

Discussion on sexuality for USC students

VPHCS staff members Ms. Cheryl Lisa Padilla – Molina, R.N., Dr. Mark Molina, Lynsy Linao, R.N., and VPHCS volunteer nurse Ms. Jethamae Paglinawan recently gave a talk on sexuality among students of the University of San Carlos – Talamban Campus (USC-TC).


The students are all scholars of the Passerelles Numeriques studying Cebu Systems and Networks Administration (CSNA) in the USC-TC under the Computer Engineering Department. Passerelles Numeriques (PN) is a French non-government organization that provides Information Technology (IT) scholarship to underprivileged students from Visayas and some parts of Mindanao. There are presently 69 students enrolled in the first semester this schoolyear.

The information discussion on sexuality was held as part of the students’ developmental activity. The first was held for 25 second year students last September 25 and the second for 45 first year students last October 2. Topics covered included anatomy and physiology of the reproductive system, contraceptive methods and sexually transmitted diseases.

The Passerelles Numeriques (PN) was born in 2005 to help disadvantaged students to create a better future for themselves and their families by educating and training on Information Technology. It started its three year pilot training in Cebu City on June 2009 in partnership with the USC. The students are housed in a lodging center in Talamban near the school.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Health alliance assembly held

The second general assembly of a Bohol-based health alliance was held last Friday, Sept. 30, 2010 in Tagbilaran City in order to advance the health conditions of the Boholanos.

The Alyansa sa Katawhan alang sa Maayong Panglawas (KAHIMSOG) is composed of people’s organizations in the grassroots, community health workers (CHWs), nurses, doctors and other health professionals, nursing students, non-government organizations and government agencies and other health advocates. It shall work to improve the health conditions in the province.

The assembly theme was: Iasdang ang katungod ug kaayuhan sa katawhan ug mga mamumuo sa panglawas para sa kahimsog. It was held at the conference room of the JJ’s Mandarin, Dimsum.

The assembly was graced by Bohol Provincial Board Member Chairman of the Committee on Health Dr. Ceasar Tomas “Yul” Lopez who expressed the government’s support to work with the Kahimsog, Ms. Angelita Maleriado, Provincial Health Office Public Health Nurse, Ms. Conchi Manhilot, Clinical Instructor-University of Bohol, Dr. Rosendo Lopez III, Head Dental Department in the Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital, Sr. Gloria and Fr. Desiderio Magdoza of Rural Missionaries of the Phil. (RMP).

Leaders of the Hugpong sa mga Mag-uuma sa Bohol (HUMABOL) represented by William Boybanting and Danilo Olayvar, Paula Destor of Bol-anong Kahugpungan sa mga Kabus nga Nangisda (BOKKANA), Linda Salo (Sandigan sa mga Bol-anong Kababayen-an nga Nag-uma ug Nanagat (SABAKAN),and community health workers of people’s organizations, nurses, nursing students, also attended the activity.

Dr. Erlinda Posadas of the VPHCS talked on the national health situation.

Dr. Erlinda Posadas and Ms. Lynsy Linao, staff members of the Visayas Primary Health Care Services (VPHCS) discussed the rationale of the reactivation of Kahimsog by discussing the health conditions of the Filipino people, the People’s Health Agenda presented by national progressive health groups to the Aquino government, and the community-based health programs as an alternative health care system.

The Kahimsog was formed in 1998. Among its achievements included the establishment of a health referral system of poor patients to health workers, medical missions in depressed communities, lobbying to increase the health budget in the LGUs and to make ambulance service free of charge, support to the campaign of the health professionals against the Medical Malpractice bill which was later shelved by Congress, and primary health care campaigns in marginalized communities.


Officers of the Kahimsog were elected by the body in the assembly. They are the following, namely:

Chairperson.............Olympia Maldos (P.O.)
Vice Chairperson........Peter John Filiseo (R.N.)
Sec. Gen. ..............Luz Yana (CHW)
Rep. Students..........Grace Dahan
Health Professionals....Dr. Rosendo Lopez III and Dr. Doloreich Dumaluan

CHW’s
D1..... Gardenia Pono
D2..... Vilma Fuentes
D3..... Shirley Butlig

P.O
Humabol..... Danilo Olayvar
Sabakan..... Linda Salo
Bokkana..... Paula Destor

Monday, October 4, 2010

Yo! Lead project report published

After four years, the project has more than a hundred trained youth leaders and peer educators from schools and communities in the three provinces who are knowledgeable on SRH issues, effective communication, project management, and leadership development.

The end of project document of the Yo! Lead project has been published.

The Yo!Lead or Youth on the Lead” is a leadership program of the VPHCS for youth–initiated adolescent reproductive health advocacy and services in the provinces of Cebu, Bohol and Occidental Negros, Philippines that aims to promote increased practice of healthy reproductive and sexual health (RSH) behaviors among the youth.

It is funded by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA- International).

The 40-page book synthesizes the highlights of the project which started in July 2006 and ended in June 2010. It also includes a summary of the sexual and reproductive health initiatives of 22 community-based youth organizations and seven school-based youth organizations in selected schools and communities in the three provinces with which the project worked. Best practices of four organizations and the Youth for Rights Network (Y4R) are also featured in the book. Various literary contributions are also included.

Harnessing their leadership and initiatives, the Yo! Lead project provided funds for the organizations to design and implement projects that increased the awareness and practice of healthy SRH behaviors and reproductive rights and increased access to, and utilization of rights-based SRH services among the youth in their localities. The project also provided static clinic and mobile health services and contraceptive commodities.

After four years, the project has more than a hundred trained youth leaders and peer educators from schools and communities in the three provinces who are knowledgeable on SRH issues, effective communication, project management, and leadership development. The project has reached out to more than 17,000 youth members through various worthwhile activities and experiences including needs assessments, focused group discussions, trainings on leadership and reproductive health, youth camps, peer educators’ trainings and other educational gatherings. All youth organizations have tremendously enhanced the awareness and practice of safe sexual and reproductive health behaviors, promoted reproductive rights, and increased access to and utilization of rights-based SRH services among their youth populace.

The project has proven that the youth themselves must be empowered to recognize and act upon their needs in order to sustain successful youth SRH programs. The project has also proven that such programs can work much better when the youth leaders receive inputs on technical concerns and leadership and are supported by a network of services and support from other stakeholders in the communities that meet their needs.

The Yo! Lead is truly a project developed and owned by the Visayan youth that responds to their very own issues and concerns.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

At least P 90 Billion needed for Public Health System to Provide Services to the Poor – Health Groups

Is this proposed budget just a dream? A study conducted by health groups HEAD and AHW revealed that there are enough sources to fund a P90 billion ($$2.037 billion) health budget, if the Aquino government has the political will to do so. 

By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — “In the face of dengue cases doubling this year (compared to last year), the health department’s budget for dengue and other communicable diseases did not increase,” said Dr. Gene Nisperos, vice-president of Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD). In fact, the Aquino government’s proposed budget for health in 2011 is so “very little and inadequate,” it “decreases the allotment for public hospitals and subsidy for indigent patients’ hospitalization,” said Emma S. Manuel, national president of the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW).

“Expect the health services to worsen further in government hospitals,” the two health leaders warned, if Aquino’s proposed budget for health is not increased by Congress.

In hopes of arresting this downward trend in government prioritization of public health, AHW and HEAD have embarked on another campaign this year to prod Congress to increase the health department’s proposed 2011 budget, from the P32.028 billion ($724.9 million) it submitted to P90 billion ($2.037 billion).

The two health groups asked the Aquino government to walk the talk in prioritizing social services and instituting change or reforms.

This week the AHW and HEAD attended the congressional budget hearing to explain to legislators why the country needs “at least P90 billion for starters” to ensure that the public health care system “can address the most urgent health needs of the people.”

As early as last July, these health groups have been seeking an audience with President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino to discuss their doable proposals for improving the country’s health care. Unfortunately, they said, Aquino has so far failed to allot time for them.

AHW and HEAD said they have had a dialogue with Health Secretary Dr. Enrique Ona last July. Ona reportedly told them he believed the health department needed at least P60 billion ($1.358 billion) for next year. But the two health groups were disappointed to learn that the DOH has proposed only a “minuscule” P32.028-billion ($724.9 million).

In a press conference held last week, HEAD itemized why they came up with a minimum of P90 billion ($2.037 billion) proposed budget for health for 2011. The AHW and HEAD made it clear that only this amount, or more if possible, could indicate that Aquino is indeed serious in introducing change or reforms and treating the people as his “boss.”

The needed P90 billion ($2.037) health budget, they said, is not yet the ideal amount that could already spell change. But it will help the country’s public health care system to function without depending too much on pork barrel, squeezing its predominantly poor patients, or taking in profit-driven investors, said Nisperos.

The World Health Organization’s recommended health budget is at least five-percent of the country’s gross national product, or around P440 billion ($9.959 billion) for the Philippines.

Scary Plight of Philippine Public Hospitals

The current scenario in the country’s remaining 55 publicly-owned hospitals is such that with this year’s spike in dengue cases, for instance, two patients have to share one bed, said Emma Manuel of AHW. A child ill with dengue can still die while waiting in line in hospitals because of the lack in facilities and personnel, added Manuel.

She recalled a child with dengue who had a very low 40 platelet count when first brought at a government hospital’s emergency room. When he was finally admitted hours later, his platelet count had dwindled to a dangerously low 12.

“It is not the fault of health workers,” stressed Manuel. With so few of them compared to the number of patients, they also had to deal with scarce equipment, medicines and supplies. Thus, they could not attend to patients fast enough.

Dr. Eric Tayag, head of the health department’s epidemiology center, apologized to the public Wednesday as the so-called Dengue express-lanes in public hospitals have turned out to be “bagal (snail-paced) lanes,” due to lack of facilities, supplies and personnel.

Nisperos slammed the sorry fact that many public hospitals lack many basic equipment and supplies such as incubators, hospital beds, reagents and medicines. How much more, Nisperos said, when it comes to advanced medical equipment?

Worse, Nisperos said the present ratio today of nurses to patient and doctors to patients are very far removed from the World Health Organization’s prescriptions.

In the Philippines, a top exporter of nurses and other health professionals, nurses handle a ward of not just 15 patients, but three times that in public hospitals. A doctor for every 400 is deemed as healthy enough, but in the Philippines there is only one doctor for every 28,000 people, said Nisperos.

Even if nurses and doctors want to work in public hospitals, said Nisperos, there is no budget for additional plantilla positions for them. This results in perennially understaffed and overworked nurses and doctors in public hospitals, said Manuel. 

The shortage in many emergency life-saving equipment and medicines in public hospitals, coupled with the fact that Filipinos now have to pay for a lot of things first (from laboratory fees to hospital supplies) before their illnesses can be diagnosed and treated, have been turning off many poor patients, said Manuel. The unfortunate result is either the patients go to public hospitals only when their illnesses have gotten too worse to treat, or they just die without medical care.

“No Filipino should be deprived of health services because he/she has no money. No Filipino should succumb to disease simply because there is no healthcare facility nearby. Women should not die of something so natural as pregnancy and child-delivery,” said Nisperos.

Dr. Gene Nisperos of the Health Alliance for Democracy says that the country needs a health budget of at least PhP90 billion. (Photo by Marya Salamat / bulatlat.com)
But based on the Aquino government’s proposed budget for health next year, the dire situation of scarce hospital facilities, supplies and personnel threaten to even get worse.

The budget for the 55 government hospitals nationwide would be slashed by P363.7million ($8.2 million), while the budget for other government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) hospitals would be trimmed of P970.6 million ($21 million), lamented the AHW. These GOCC hospitals include the Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney & Transplant Institute, the Philippine Children’s Medical Center and Philippine Heart Center.

Required PhP90-B Health Budget in 2011 Realistic

Compared to the 2010 budget, Aquino’s 2011 budget has decreased much of the funds for basic services, said Nisperos.

Aquino’s national budget “stresses more the modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines through increased budget for recruitment of additional soldiers, CAFGU, intelligence and arms procurement,” the AHW said in a statement. The health group warned that this could only “worsen militarization, counter-insurgency operations and result in more human rights violations and repression of the people.”

“The 2011 budget gives priority to defense as the third highest, with an 81 percent increase, and to debt payment (which is already almost a fourth of the entire national budget),” said Manuel. She calls it “ironic” because President Aquino often claims that providing social service is the priority of his administration and that his administration’s proposed budget is a “reform budget.”

Instead of Aquino’s P32.028-billion ($724.9 million) budget for health, the two health groups dared the Aquino administration to put money where its mouth is. “A P90 billion budget makes it feasible to work for immediate remedies to the most pressing health problems, while paving the way for more long-term solutions.”


























The proposed PhP90-B health budget. (Prepared by HEAD and AHW)

The current major areas of health concern in the country are the focus of the P90 billion ($2.037 billion) health budget, as opposed to the minuscule P32.028 billion ($724.9 million) initially proposed by the health department, said the HEAD. The Philippines is in dire need of a P90 billion ($2.037 billion) budget to address the “lack of healthcare services, loss of health personnel and the need to focus on preventive aside from curative care.” The government also has to confront “chronic health problems such as high maternal deaths, prevalence and recurrence of infectious diseases and high prices of drugs.”

Is this proposed budget just a dream? A study conducted by HEAD revealed that there are enough sources to fund this alternative budget. The political will on the part of the government is what is needed, said Nisperos.

Aside from reallocating existing funds, HEAD suggests looking into trimming the P80 billion ($1.8 billion) increase in debt payments. There is also an estimated P170 billion ($3.8 billion) that could be made available if the government eliminates corruption. There are billions more of unpaid corporate taxes that the government needs only to muster the political will to collect, said Nisperos.

Saying if there is a will there is a way, Nisperos explained that the P90 billion ($2.037) health budget “is meant to ensure that the right to health is guaranteed and fulfilled by the Aquino government.” Toward ensuring this right, Nisperos said, their proposed health budget  “challenges the current policy of healthcare privatization and the corporatization of government hospitals.”

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