Health workers: Philippine health care is very sick

The wealth of a nation is its people.

It goes without saying that a healthy population is a prerequisite for a country to progress.Healthy citizens live longer and are more productive.

On Monday, President Aquino will deliver his 5th State of the Nation Address.

Yesterday, the country’s health workers gave their assessment of the nation’s health in a “Declaration of a Healthcare Workforce Crisis” issued by The Coalition for Primary Care and the Philippine College of Physicians.

Their conclusion:“The Philippines is in the midst of a healthcare crisis.”

The supported their disturbing declaration with grim figures: 47.6% of deaths among Filipinos are unattended by a medical doctor or allied health provider.

“Infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia continue to kill a hundred thousand Filipinos each year, just as they have for the past several decades.

“In addition, 5000 birthing mothers and 70,000 children under 5 years of age die each year as maternal and under 5 mortality continue unabated.

“On top of these persistent problems, a new epidemic of Non-communicable diseases (NCD) is upon us as a direct result of increased life expectancy, modernization and deteriorating lifestyles. These diseases include heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic lung disease and many other diseases. The WHO reports that the NCD epidemic kills 175,000 men and 134,000 women every year[iii]- that’s more than 300,000 Filipinos a year, 30 deaths an hour. This is the equivalent of 2 jumbo jets crashing every day.”

The health workers said about half of the deaths from non-communicable diseases and the majority of infectious, maternal and newborn deaths are preventable with proper healthcare. “Unfortunately, the healthcare system has been unable to manage these scourges,“ they said.

Consider the following facts:

1. Most Filipinos, especially the poor, use public facilities to seek medical care.

2. Of the 66 thousand physicians, 500 thousand nurses and 74 thousand midwives who are actively practicing their profession and registered with the PRC, only 3 thousand, 5 thousand and 17 thousand respectively, work in a public facility as of 2013.

3. This translates to only 0.2 physicians, 0.4nurses and 1.7midwives per 10,000 population, or a total of 2.3 healthcare workers per 10,000 population.This number is 10x less than the 24/10,000 recommended by the WHO, as the minimum number needed to address just the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) of maternal and child health alone.

4. he shortage of healthcare workers affects not just the supply of doctors, nurses and midwives, but also the supply of dentists, pharmacists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech pathologists, medical technologists, and other allied medical professionals, including our partners in healthcare, the community health workers.

As the health workers declared that “a healthcare workforce crisis that threatens the lives of millions of Filipinos, especially the poor, and violates their right to good health,” they demanded that “President Aquino and the 16th Congress take immediate, sustained and dramatic steps to solve this crisis. “

They pledged “to fight for legislation and policies that promote the practice and teaching of primary care as the basic ingredient of true health for all.”

They zeroed in on five aspects of workforce management: Recruitment – of a sufficient number of health care workers; Retraining – so they can handle both communicable and non-communicable diseases; Retention – through provision of just salaries, deserved benefits, and better working conditions; Regulation – so that supply can be redistributed to areas in need; and Periodic Reassessment – because the workforce is a moving target that changes with the times.

Their battle cry: Walang kalusugang pangkalahatan, kung walang mag-aalaga sa sambayanan.