President Marcos highlighted in his recent State of the Nation Address that the administration’s nation-building efforts couldn’t succeed without providing adequate attention to the population’s health. In line with the government’s efforts to prioritize health-related expenditures, the President said the Department of Health’s budget is now the third highest after Education and Public Works.
“As of this year, more than 80 percent of our eligible children have been vaccinated against measles, rubella, and polio,” the President said, adding that PhilHealth’s Konsulta Package has increased the number of free dialysis sessions to 156 from 90 in 2022. Citing the important role played by the healthcare sector during the pandemic, the President said he will prioritize making health services available at the local level through his administration’s Health Facility Enhancement Program .
“This is part of a larger system of healthcare provision that we are putting together to service our citizens so that they don’t have to wait [or] get very very sick before they go to the big hospitals. We are bringing healthcare down to the people,” the chief executive said.