EDITORIAL: How COVID-19 made the PH healthcare system's lapses more evident

Through the years, the Philippine healthcare system has been shown as of high standard quality, containing only a few lapses with regards to facilities and inequalities between the public and private sectors. But as much as we want to believe this, the facts and data showed otherwise, especially when contextualized with the pandemic.

Photo by Sofia Abrogar

Already flawed from the get-go due to Filipinos’ unequal access to medical care, the healthcare system proved yet again its lack thereof as the virus entered the country.

When the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the Philippines last January 2020, the Department of Health (DOH) did little to no action to address the problem. Not really pushing for a nationwide lockdown or any type of protocol for that matter, essentially downplaying the situation up until March of the same year.

Let us take a closer look by starting with the public healthcare system administered by none other than the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth). This government owned organization is tasked with providing health insurance coverage and ensuring affordable as well as accessible healthcare services for Filipinos.

Together with the DOH, this corporation administers the National Health Insurance Program in order to do such above mentioned tasks but like other government-run agencies, PhilHealth also has its fair share of corruption.

In August 2020, it was claimed that PhilHealth executives stole a total of Php 15 billion from the agency. A former official of the state-run corporation attested to the corruption, stating numerous accounts of questionable demands from superiors and cases of fraud within the organization.

Moreover a report from Rappler stated that there were several instances wherein PhilHealth was investigated over their Interim Reimbursement Mechanism (IRM), IRM withholding tax, proposed information technology budget, procurement of IT network and manipulated financial statements.

Particularly dwelling on the IRM, it was proved that PhilHealth illegally paid out Php 4 million different hospitals and clinics all over the country. The purpose of the IRM is to provide quick cash advances for hospitals and clinics in an event such as a pandemic but as PhilHealth was late for its reimbursements, they too were late with paying out the IRM.

These are just some of the few cases of PhilHealth’s corruption. And much to our surprise, there might be more that we don’t know about.

Even so, this is not the only problem the Philippine Healthcare System is currently faced with. Nowadays, most of our hospitals have reached full capacity. People continue to seek treatment for both COVID-19 and other illnesses but because of the government’s negligence, doctors are faced with having to decide who to treat, even to the extent of deciding who should live.

Frontliners and their respective hospitals are stretched thin as the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise despite the state implemented lockdowns. The Duterte administration has done nothing but to appoint retired military generals to lead the pandemic response, leaving no room for actual health experts to address the ongoing pandemic.

Even going to the extent of disregarding recommendations from experts and removing doctors from their position just because they criticized the government’s pandemic response.

Based on a survey report last February 2021, “17.9% of Filipinos ‘strongly disapprove’ of the Duterte government's pandemic response – the highest strong disapproval rating among Southeast Asian countries.”

To add to that, just a few months ago, a fire broke out at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) —the biggest hospital and also the largest COVID-19 referral hospital in the Philippines. Constituents were quick to call for donation drives to help PGH yet there were little to no reports of the government's response to help the hospital recover.

It was only recently that the government turned over financial aid to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) amounting to Php 98.4 million almost 1 month after the fire occurred. Actually only turning over Php 25 million for the first batch of the provided financial aid as of June 21, 2021.

With that, it is safe to say that our Healthcare System in the Philippines is truly flawed. Not because our frontliners were lacking, but because the government proved to be little to no help to the right experts and its people.

Despite the numerous lockdowns the government has implemented to lower the cases in the country, we are still in the same situation as before, only with a number of vaccines on hand and possibly new variants of the virus in our midst. Still, the government continues to take advantage of the pandemic, not really doing anything for the sake of the public.

Nonetheless, this is the last straw. Now is the time for the government to move as the public has grown tired of the never ending cycle of lockdown implementations and face shield debates.

This pandemic should serve as their final push in addressing what should have been done even before the virus struck the country. It’s time that the government invests in the right experts for the job and straightens their priorities for the sake of providing Filipinos with the healthcare we truly deserve.