Only 3 municipalities in East Visayas are doctor-less

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
January 5, 2012

TACLOBAN CITY  –  With the recent deployment of ten young medical graduates to ten doctor-less municipalities, only three municipalities in Eastern Visayas remain as doctor-less LGUs, the Department of Health informed.

DOH-8 Director Edgardo Gonzaga identified the three doctor-less municipalities as Santo Niño, Jiabong and Tagapul-an, all in the province of Samar.

Director Gonzaga expressed hope that in the next deployment, these three municipalities will be included.

He recalled that in 2009, there were 15 doctor-less municipalities in the Region. So he is happy that after two years, only three local government units are without doctors.

The DOH Director said that 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.

Director Gonzaga said that in order to qualify as a doctor-less municipality, the LGU must have been without doctor for at least five years.

The thrust of the DTTB Program is 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 are expected to render two years of service in the municipalities where they have been deployed.

These Doctors to the Barrios receive about P28,000 (US$995.231) a month in salaries and other benefits. They serve the municipality for two years.

Several of them however, remain in the municipalities because they get married to a local. A few have been taken in by the local government units (LGU) as their municipal health officers.