Policy Recommendations on the Improvement of Primary Health Care Service Delivery Among Government Employees: Enabler's Perpective

R. NAPULAN, D. DE GUZMAN , A. ONG , J. GITANA, and K. CARLOS

National Research Council of the Philippines

Department of Health, Republic of the Philippines

The Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas

 

INTRODUCTION

The Philippines enacted the Universal Health Care Act which is anchored on primary health care and mandates the delivery of affordable and quality health services for all.

Memorandum Circular No. 33. s. 1997 - directed the provision of health programs: free annual medical exam to all government agencies

AIM

This paper aims to determine the access to health facilities and services of government employees and their family, the contributing and inhibiting factors, and policy recommendations in improving access.

METHOD

This qualitative study employed key informant interviews (KII) from October 2022 to June 2023. KIIs were conducted with thirteen government institutions. A thematic analysis was done to the responses gathered from the participants through the structured interview guide questions developed.

RESULTS

Out of the 16 institutions, 12 have a health clinic; 5 do not extend their health services to non-permanent employees; and 8 do not extend to family. Availability, accessibility, and affordability of health services were both the main contributing and inhibiting factors affecting access. Strict regulations on provision of health benefits and procurement of health resources, poor health education and information dissemination were the inhibiting factors. The respondents suggested the need to allocate adequate budget for the healthcare; provide additional leave benefits for medical examinations; sanctioning those employees who do not avail health services; and extension of services of government hospitals to all free of charge.

CONCLUSIONS

Policies should be amended to include all government units to have an extensive coverage of the health services for its employees and to expand these services to include immediate family members.

There is also a need to strengthen the network of facilities and government institutions to optimize the available health resources of government employees. We can ensure that the quality of services will not be disrupted due to the health needs of employees.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research is conducted and supported by the Department of Health and funded by the National Research Council of the Philippines.

REFERENCES

House of Representatives (2018).Universal Health Care Act. Retrieved from https://hrep-website.s3.ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/legisdocs/ra_17/RA11223.pdf

Civil Service Commission (1997). Memorandum Circular No. 33 s. 1997. Retrieved from https://oshc.dole.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CSC-MC-33-s-1997.pdf

Department of Labor and Employment (2018). Occupational Safety and Health Law. Retrieved from https://bwc.dole.gov.ph/images/Issuances/RA_11058_OSHLAW.pdf