DOH mulls continuing education for rural doctors

TACLOBAN CITY, Sept. 9 (PNA) –- Municipal health officers (MHOs) will have the chance to avail continuing education and not just stay in their assigned area "forever," said Department of Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial.

The health department has signed a deal with the Family Medical Association of the Philippines to enlist MHOs in family medicine residency program.

"There will be no standalone MHO. They are connected and we have service delivery network. Our idea is to have family medicine residency program for all peripheral MHOs," Ubial said.

The official noted that most MHOs don’t undergo upgrading after their appointment in local government units until their retirement.

"The MHOs will rotate with doctors in hospitals and have continuing education towards a fellowship," said Ubial on the sidelines of the inauguration of Mother and Child Hospital of the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center on Thursday.

The health chief bared the government’s plan to hire more doctors for deployment in rural areas and government hospitals to "ensure health and well being of poor families."

"Almost all towns have MHOs, but our present setting is one doctor per 33,000 population. This is more than the recommended ratio of one doctor per 20,000 population in the Philippines," the official said.

The government needs about PHP57 billion every year to deploy one doctor in every five barangays (villages) in the country

“We are calculating what is feasible like in the interim, one midwife or one nurse per barangay until in the six-year period of the President, we are able to address one doctor per five barangays,” she added.

To achieve that, the DOH will sign a memorandum of agreement with state-run medical schools 

requiring their graduates to work in rural areas for few years before shifting to private practice or go overseas.

The Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation will build 30,000 barangay health stations to ensure that all the 46,000 villages in the country have health centers. Currently, there are only 16,000 existing health stations nationwide.

The health department expressed interest in emulating the ratio of doctor to population ratio of the health system of Cuba after the Ubial’s study tour in the Caribbean island nation.

“The strength of Cuban health system is their human resource,” the official added.

For every 1,075 Cubans, there is one doctor, almost similar with World Health Organization’s standards for public health of one doctor for every 1,000 population. (PNA)
JMC/SQM