The new policy being implemented by the Department of Health (DOH) wherein it has mandated all DOH personnel to work exclusively for the department and not to render services to various health centers in the province would have a negative effect on rural health centers in the country.

This was what Ilocos Norte Governor Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said as he mentioned that the province would not be spared from its effects since Ilocos Norte rural health units are mostly serviced by DOH personnel due to the lack of provincial health workers.

With the rural health units good as paralyzed with this policy, Marcos appealed to the DOH to reinstate their old policy and to let their personnel be reassigned to health centers and district hospitals.

“Nakikiusap tayo ngayon sa DOH na i-retain ang kanilang policy kasi unless na ma-replace natin talagang mapipilayan tayo (We are appealing to the DOH to retain their old policy because if we can’t replace their personnel then our rural health centers may become paralyzed). And if we have to replace them then, of course, we will have to pay their salaries. That’s again an additional cost for the province,” Marcos said.

Marcos however also said that he understood the logic behind DOH’s new policy as it is similar to all other government agencies which are also in a cost-cutting mode brought by the fiscal crisis the government is in.

Before they implemented this policy, DOH personnel augmented health workers in local areas with their salaries still being paid for by the national government.

However because of the cost-cutting measure, the DOH had thought of saving funds by assigning job-specific activities for their personnel.

Leilanie G. Adriano