HEALTH CARE NETWORK. The provincial government of Benguet launches on Wednesday (March 30, 2022) the Health Care Provider Network to ensure that Benguet residents get the necessary health and medical care no matter where they are in the province. Dr. Meliarazon Dulay, Provincial Health Officer I and point person of the province’s universal health care program, said the network will serve as a gatekeeper and guide that will lead patients to the appropriate facilities. (PNA photo by Liza T. Agoot)
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The provincial government formally launched on Wednesday the Benguet Health Care Provider Network (HCPN) which will ensure all residents will get access to health and medical care under the Universal Health Care (UHC) law no matter where they are in the province.
Dr. Meliarazon Dulay, Provincial Health Officer 1 and point person of the UHC program in the province, said the project aims to “strengthen the health care provider network in Benguet by connecting the barangay health stations to the Rural Health Unit (RHU), the district hospitals, to the provincial hospital and the apex hospital which is the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC)."
“The network will make sure that if there is no need for the patient to travel to the apex hospital which is in Baguio and their needs can be addressed at the RHU or the district hospital, then they will be properly informed and given the care needed,” she said in Ilocano on the sidelines of the launching activity at the provincial capitol building here.
Dulay said the network, which includes government health facilities and institutions in the province, aims to ensure that all residents in the province will be matched with a health care provider based on their health needs and will get the appropriate medical service at the proper facility.
She said there will be collaboration, coordination, and cooperation among the stakeholders from the village to the provincial-level.
Aside from government institutions, the provincial government is also working on expanding the network to include private hospitals, clinics, and facilities.
The doctor said that Benguet was among those identified as pilot areas for the implementation of the UHC law, thus the need to put a system in place.
“We have been doing it in the past but this time, it will be a more synchronized and coordinated action of the network members, following a system that will make it easier for the patient to receive the needed health care service,” she said.
“We are working on the accreditation of the RHUs to the PhilHealth so that the health packages can be availed by the residents at the lowest level of health facility that is accessible to the community. Everybody will be provided with the service,” Dulay said.
Dr. Ryan Guinaran, a medical doctor and an executive assistant of Governor Melchor Diclas, said the network will also make sure that facilities, as well as health programs and projects, are provided the appropriate funding.
Guinaran said Diclas pushed for the creation of the network especially since the chief executive himself is a medical surgeon by profession. (PNA)
