DOH deploys ‘doctors
to barrios’ in 10 doctor-less East Visayas LGUs
By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
December
21, 2011
TACLOBAN CITY – Ten
(10) young medical graduates were recently deployed to ten doctor-less
municipalities in Eastern Visayas under the ‘Doctors to the Barrios’
program, Department of Health Region 8 Director Edgardo Gonzaga
informed.
Director Gonzaga said
the doctors were assigned in fifth and sixth class municipalities
namely, Limasawa in Southern Leyte; Jipapad in Eastern Samar;
Hinabangan, Tagapul-an, Santo Nino and Matuguinao in the province of
Samar; and Laoang, Silvino Lobos, San Antonio and Gamay in Northern
Samar.
The ten doctors were
part of the 73 doctors who were recently assigned in various regions
of the country namely, Northern Mindanao, 12; Western Visayas, seven;
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, seven; Ilocos Region, six;
Cagayan Valley, five; Mimaropa, five; Cordillera Administrative
Region, four; Central Visayas, four; Zamboanga Peninsula, three;
Central Luzon, two; Calabarzon, two; Bicol Region, two; Caraga, two;
Davao, one; and Socsargen, one.
Said doctors were
trained by the National Telehealth Service Program, a collaboration of
the Department of Health (DoH), the Department of Science and
Technology, and the University of the Philippines Manila, in using
telemedicine applications to support their practice in doctor-less and
single-doctor communities.
They were trained to
do tele-referrals to refer difficult to handle medical cases to
specialists in government-run Philippine General Hospital.
Director Gonzaga said
that telemedicine is bringing more Filipino doctors to the barrios.
The government is now using information and communications technology
to expand the scope of public healthcare services to geographically
isolated and disadvantaged areas.
Due to the absence of
doctors in rural communities, indigent patients have to travel long
hours to seek medical attention from clinical specialists in
provincial or city centers.
Telemedicine connects
health workers from poor remote rural communities to government
specialists.
Under the five-year
NTSP, local health professionals from 606 poorest municipalities and
regional centers are connected to clinical specialists via
telemedicine.
The Doctors to the
Barrio (DTTB) Program was spearheaded by one of the Department of
Health’s (DOH) most memorable secretaries, Dr. Juan A. Flavier, in
1993, in response to the findings of a rapid assessment conducted by
the DOH. The assessment showed that 271 municipalities in the
Philippines
had been without doctors for at least 5 years.
The thrust of the
DTTB Program was to provide medical care by deploying competent,
dedicated doctors twice a year to far-flung areas that needed them
most. These areas were typically underdeveloped and economically
challenged municipalities described as isolated, depressed and hard to
reach. Doctors were expected to render two years of service in the
municipalities they were deployed to.
