Armm reinvigorates local health boards

By TENG DATU,
Cotabato City Bureau Chief

Cotabato City — After finishing a two-year, three-module program under the Health Leadership and Governance Program, 19 local chief executives and nine local health officials have vowed to reinvigorate local health boards in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm).

“We are grateful to the Zuellig Family Foundation for giving us a chance to prove our worth and develop our homegrown champions,” Armm’s Health Department (DOH) Secretary Dr. Kadil Sinolinding Jr. said. The foundation was established in the Philippines in 1997 by the Zuellig family, which is engaged in pharmaceutical business as well as other ventures.

Dyan Sangkula Jumaide, Armm’s Health department assistant secretary, said the program participants are committed to reinvigorate the function of the local health boards in the region.

In accordance with standards and criteria set by the DOH-Armm, members of local health boards do the annual budgetary allocations for the operation and maintenance of health facilities and services within the municipality, city, or province.

Vice President Leni Robredo who was a guest in last week’s event said the “key to Armm’s progress are good governance, strong and honest leadership, transparency and accountability, and an ability to love its history, beautiful and tragic as it may be.”

“The program allows the participants to understand the problems and become a catalyst for change. The mayor understands that he needs to go beyond medical missions, or paying for the medicine and hospital bills of his constituents, establish a clear vision for health change, and be a health ambassador so that his constituents develop co-ownership of the health programs,” Robredo said.

Armm local leaders and health personnel shared their acts of leadership in health and how these contributed to better health outcomes that benefited their constituents.

Tandubas, Tawi-Tawi mayor Rahiema Salih said “Kung tutuusin kaya ko naman gawin mag-isa para sa kalusugan ng aking mga constituents. Mayor ako, may resources ako.”

“Pero natutunan ko na para matamasa ng mga tao ang kalusugan na nararapat para sa kanila, kailangan kong makipagtulungan sa mga leaders sa aking munisipyo, lalong-lalo na kay Doktora Uribe (municipal health officer),” she said. “Kailangang makinig kami sa isa’t isa at maging honest sa bawat isa upang magkatugma ang kagustuhan para sa kaunlaran ng aming bayan,” she added.

Speaking on behalf of Armm Governor Mujiv Hataman, Dr. Sinolinding said Armm used to be the example to show what not to do in government. Today, the Armm is referred to as a model for empowered and decentralized governance.

Improved delivery of health services has always been a priority in the region, Dr. Sinolinding said. In recent years, the Armm has installed rural health units in 105 of the 116 municipalities and two cities in the region.

Within the same period, he added, the regional government increased the number of PhilHealth cardholders by 80%, from 834,153 to 1.5 million. “We also increased the number of PhilHealth-accredited units by 85%, from only 47 in 2012 to 87 in 2014,” said Dr. Sinolinding.