91 CORDILLERA RHUs AS PRIMARY HEALTH PROVIDERS

February 3, 2023 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY

A total of 91 rural health units (RHU) and a private facility have qualified to become primary health facilities under the Universal Health Care (UHC) system, the Department of Health (DOH) in the
Cordillera region said Thursday. “The reforms of the Universal Health Care includes licensing of primary health care facilities, which in 2020 targeted licensing of at least 70 percent of the facilities,” Dr. Virginia Narciso, DOH-Cordillera licensing officer, said in a press conference.

Patients seeking primary health care services are assured of safe, quality, and affordable services in these facilities. The doctor said licenses have been approved for 13 of the 16 RHUs in Baguio, 23 of the 27 in Abra, all seven in Apayao, all 13 in Benguet, all 11 in Ifugao, eight of the 11 in Mountain Province, and all 13 in Kalinga. She added that as a licensed facility, they also qualify as a health provider under the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

At least 13 medical doctors under the DOH’s Doctors to the Barrio program have been deployed to help provide services at the RHUs. She said RHUs are required to have a medical doctor as part
of their primary health care provider and referral center license. They were deployed to Conner, Flora, Kabugao and Calanasan, Apayao; Buguias, Kabayan, and Kibungan in Benguet; Alfonso Lista in Ifugao; Lubuagan in Kalinga; and Sadanga, Tadian, Paracelis, and Natonin in Mountain Province. “(The) UHC endeavors to provide not just services but medicines to clients,” Narciso said.

(PNA)