Tacloban City, Philippines – About 15 municipalities in Eastern Visayas have no government doctors, an official of the Department of Health in the Region informed the media during the special edition of the “Harampang Ha PIA” (meeting at PIA), held recently.
Dr. Genelyn Herrera, chief of Department of Health (DOH) Region 8 Human Resource Development Unit, disclosed that the 15 doctor-less municipalities are found in the provinces of Samar and Northern Samar.
Dr. Herrera identified the island municipality of Biri, the hinterland town of Silvino Lobos and the coastal towns of Mapanas and Pambujan, all in the province of Northern Samar, as among those without government doctors.
Dr. Herrera said other towns without physicians include Marabut, Talolora, Villareal, Jiabong, Daram, Tarangnan, San Jorge, Matuguinao, Pagsanghan, Gandara and Tagapul-an, all in the province of Samar. The residents of these municipalities have to go somewhere else to avail of the services of a doctor.
The lady doctor who is a product of the step-ladder education at the University of the Philippine Institute of Health, thus making her a midwife, a nurse and a doctor at the same time, said that previously, there were 27 doctor-less municipalities in the Region.
However, with the deployment of doctors through the Doctors to the Barrios program, twelve municipalities were blessed with the services of a doctor.
Dr. Herrera said that these Doctors to the Barrios receive about PHP28,000 (US$995.231) a month in salaries and other benefits. They serve the municipality for two years. Several of them however, remain in the municipalities because they get married to a local. A few have been taken in by the local government units (LGU) as their municipal health officers.
The towns that have availed themselves of the services of the Doctor in the Barrios program of the Department of Health were Gamay, San Roque and Lope de Vega in Northern Samar; Almagro, Hinabangan, San Sebastian and Pinabacdao in Samar; Pintuyan, San Francisco and Limasawa in Southern Leyte; Lawaan in Eastern Samar; and Caibiran in Biliran. These towns became eligible to be recipients of the program because they have met the basic requirements. The Department of Health pay for the salaries of the Doctor but on the third year, the doctor and the Department of Health negotiates with the municipality to take in the doctor as the regular municipal health officer paid by the LGU.
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