[Trending Now] 20 Million Poor Filipinos Will Receive A Mandatory Basic Check-Up For FREE By Christmas From DOH!

An early Christmas gift to some 20 million poor Filipinos will be given by the Department of Health.

As part of the Duterte administration’s universal healthcare program, 20 million poor Filipinos will get free mandatory basic check-up on December, Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial said yesterday.

She said at a press briefing this mandatory check-up will be launched today to achieve an end date of Dec. 25.

“The first 100 days is the check-up. That means our goal is to really look into who are listed in the National Household Targeting System of the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) and to get to all those individuals," Ubial said.

She added that maintenance medicine can be given at the checkup while additional procedure like surgeries will be schedule at a later date.

"Kung sino ho ang makitang may further need, diagnostic—kailangan ng CT Scan, MRI, kailangan operahan—yun po ay gagawin natin in the immediate future. But the drugs and medicine, these are now available. As soon as the patients are detected in our check-ups, they will be provided the maintenance medicine," Ubial said.

Today will also be the launch of Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ event called National Health summit where she hopes that it will give the importance of local government units in preventive response.

"We need to seriously study the possibility of building super barangay centers to strengthen our current barangay health system by modernizing it with adequate facilities, personnel, and expertise," she said.

Universal health care is part of the Duterte Health Agenda that will be launched at the summit. Its three main goals is to prevent premature deaths "from the scourges of stressful daily living and emerging public health threats like drug addiction and Zika"; to give poor Filipinos freedom from high cost of medical care; and to give all Filipinos satisfactory experiences when they access health services.

The summit will formally unveil the universal health care plan of Duterte Health Agenda.

Its three main goals are:

- Premature death from the scourges of stressful daily living and emerging public health threats like drug addiction and Zika

- to give poor Filipinos freedom from high cost of medical care

- to give all Filipinos satisfactory experiences when they access health services

Source: TNP, GMA