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Proposed 2021 health budget shrinks, neglects public health–IBON 

by IBON Media & Communications

Research group IBON said that the lower budget for the public health in the proposed national government budget for 2021 will keep health care inaccessible and expensive for too many Filipinos. The pandemic highlighted the lack of capacity in the privatized health system. IBON however criticized the merely fleeting increase in health spending and the cuts next year in important health areas.

The Department of Health’s (DOH) budget is at least Php171.5 billion in 2020, consisting of the Php104.5 billion under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) 2020, Php49 billion under the Bayanihan 1 law, and at least Php18 billion under the recently passed Bayanihan 2 (RA 11494). IBON noted that the proposed Php131.7 billion DOH budget for 2021 is Php39.8 billion or 23.2% less than this.

IBON said this indicates a merely short-term response to the pandemic and an unchanged trajectory of health privatization including allowing the public health care system to whither away. In particular, health infrastructure spending and support for public hospitals are seeing large cuts next year.

The proposed 2021 budget for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) covering the building of health infrastructure and purchase of medical equipment is just Php4.8 billion. This is 62.9% less than this year’s Php12.9 billion budget composed of Php8.4 billion under the GAA 2020 and Php4.5 billion under Bayanihan 2. 

The HFEP budget has actually been falling steeply under the Duterte administration in the regular GAAs even before the pandemic, IBON pointed out. It was Php30.3 billion in 2018, Php15.9 billion in 2019, then Php8.4 billion in 2020. The group also noted that the government’s Php1.1 trillion infrastructure program for 2021 only allots Php2.3 billion or one-fifth of one percent (0.2%) to the DOH, which is also a 36.7% cut from the GAA 2020. 

Health privatization-driven budget cuts for public health facilities like this have already caused public hospitals numbering 730 in 2010 to fall to just 433 in 2018.

The proposed 2021 budget for health workers and supporting the operation of DOH hospitals also falls by Php1.7 billion or a 2.6% cut, from Php64.3 billion in 2020 to Php62.6 billion next year. This is because the Php12.6 billion increase in Human Resource for Health (HRH) and DOH hospital budgets in the GAA 2021 from GAA 2020 is off-set by the discontinuing of Php13.5 billion in fleeting support under Bayanihan 2.

The government has played up how the 2021 budget for Human Resources for Health (HRH) Deployment increases to Php16.6 billion from Php10 billion in 2020 to hire 26,035 health workers. This seems urgent because the government doctor-to-population and government nurse-to-population ratios have been worsening under the Duterte administration, between 2016 and 2018 – from 1:32,644 to 1:33,909 doctors and from 1:17,269 to 1:17,769 nurses.

However, the health sector group Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) has pointed out how this increase is only temporary and does not indicate a sustained increase in health workers for the public health system. They highlight that 14,553 DOH plantilla positions will still remain vacant in 2021 with public hospitals still understaffed and government health personnel still overworked over the long-term.

AHW also points out that 23 of 66 DOH hospitals, which many of the poor depend on, will see their maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) budgets cut by Php4 million to as much as Php209 million. IBON meanwhile noted how the budget of two COVID-19 referral government owned- and -controlled (GOCC) hospitals will also be cut next year. The Lung Center of the Philippines sees a 2.9% budget cut to just Php405 million in 2021, and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) a 13% cut to just Php1 billion.

The budget of the Epidemiology and Surveillance program that is crucial in controlling the spread of diseases through timely data and research has already been cut by over 50% from Php263 million in 2019 to Php116 million in 2020. Yet despite its obvious importance in dealing with pandemics, IBON said, government proposes to reduce it further to Php113 million in 2021.

The budgets for the National Reference Laboratories (NRL) and Health Information Technology (HIT), which are vital in detecting, testing, databasing and reporting coronavirus cases and other emerging diseases, are also slashed.  The proposed allocations for NRL and HIT decrease from Php326 million to Php289 million, and Php1.2 billion to Php97 million, respectively.

The second biggest chunk of the proposed 2021 health budget, or Php71.4 billion, still goes to the Philippine Health Insurance System or PhilHealth. While noting recent corruption controversies in the agency, IBON pointed out that it is difficult to reconcile the unchanged budget with increasing health expenses of Filipinos. At the same time the group stressed that government resources are better spent on expanding and improving the public health system rather than subsidizing private health sector profits.

IBON said that the Duterte administration should increase funding for health infrastructure, personnel, and operations. Filipinos right to health and affordable health care cannot be realized if, as is happening today, more and more of the country’s health system is being turned over to the profit-driven private sector. The group stressed that this will always result in health care that is too expensive and health capacity that, as the pandemic has shown, is insufficient for public health emergencies. #