DOH posts marked improvement in RPRH spending in 2015

Despite a temporary restraining order (TRO) on subdermal contraceptive implants issued by the Supreme Court in June 2015, the Department of Health (DOH) posted improved budget expenditure numbers in its 2015 Accomplishment Report released on Wednesday (June 22).

The DOH spent P40.7 billion for Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) services in 2015, a leap from the P26.8 billion in 2014.

Spending for the Health Facilities Program was 32% higher than in 2014. Similar improvements in utilizing the budget was also seen in the Expanded Program on Immunization and Family Health and Responsible Parenting.P240 million was spent by the Commission on Population (POPCOM) for their RPRH activities.

POPCOM reached 599,310 clients through 55,493 Barangay RPRH classes. They also reached 117,583 couples through their Pre-Marriage Counselling (PMC), as well as 25,063 clients through the Usapan Serye program.

Meanwhile, PhilHealth reimbursed P10.14 billion to pay for 992,442 women who gave birth in a facility—an increase from 736,707 in 2014, worth P7.64 billion in claims.

The 2015 Accomplishment Report also highlighted progress in key areas, such as the increase in the number of women using birth control pills. The report also listed that out of 1.5 million live births in 2015, 1.2 million were covered by the DOH.

The DOH also procured anti-retroviral drugs worth P220 million in 2015, to be delivered this year to benefit the 15,000 people living with HIV. Free testing services nationwide are also current available.

Part of the funds were also allocated to help implement the Magna Carta of Women, with 87% of 42,029 barangays already equipped with a Violence Against Women (VAW) help desk.

To help implement the RPRH Law, development partners and civil society organizations additionally spent P5.92 billion and P238 million respectively.

“Even with the partners, even with POPCOM, DOH and other government agencies, we always emphasize that we have to minimize trainings and advocacies. We now have to maximize service delivery,” DOH Secretary Janette Loreto-Garin noted. — Aya Tantiangco/BM, GMA News