DOH campaigns for primary care, brings services in Pampanga

The Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday launched its primary healthcare campaign and brought primary care services to residents of Lubao, Pampanga.

During the event, DOH said residents underwent consultations, immunization, and nutrition checkups. They were also provided with medicines, screening and diagnosis of common communicable and non-communicable diseases, and health education and counseling on risk factors and diseases.

A primary care van donated by the Global Fund through the Philippine Business for Social Progress was also turned over to the Center for Health Development of Region III to provide the residents with various primary care services.

In her speech, DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire lauded the Pampanga government’s “Alagang Nanay Preventive Health Care Ordinance of 2022” which provides Kapampangans access to “cost-effective, promotive, and preventive health services to reduce financial risk from the high costs of availing specialized health services.”

“This is precisely what primary care is—this is Universal Health Care. Isa itong napakagandang adhikain, at sa pamamagitan nito, maipaparamdam natin sa ating mga kababayan ang kalinga at serbisyong pangkalusugan na dekalidad at abot-kaya, tulad ng alagang nanay,” she said.

(This is a good aspiration, and through this, we can make our countrymen feel cared for and receive health services that are quality and affordable.)

Vergeire said the DOH also asked the local government units and other stakeholders to “shift the demand from curative and hospital care to preventive, promotive, and integrated primary care.”—AOL, GMA News