OFFICIAL VISIT. Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial
meets health officials in Cuba during her official visit. All photos from the
Department of Health
Health
Secretary Paulyn Ubial: 'I'm sure that our universal health care dream will
benefit from the lessons that we learned in the Cuban model'
The
Philippines is looking at Cuba to learn a thing or two from the Latin American
country's "efficient and effective" health system.
Upon the
strong endorsement of President Rodrigo Duterte, Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial
went to Cuba from August 23 to 26 for an official visit. She revealed details
of this visit in a September 5 press conference at Malacañang.
Among
Cuba's best practices, according to Ubial, is how its health system produces an
adequate number of health professionals, creating a doctor-to-patient ratio
that is more than what the World Health Organization is promoting. (READ: Learning from Cuba's health system: 35,000 more doctors needed
in PH)
Ubial
lauded another best practice in Cuba: an out-patient mental health facility
that covers several municipalities.
"In
Cuba, they don't have a mental institution, all their patients are out-patient,
and it's like delivering the services at home to the patients. And… they have
some sort of daycare services. If you're going on vacation, then they can take
care of your mental health patient/family member on a two- to three-day period.
So, that's not for the long term," she explained in a mix of English and
Filipino.
Mental
health is among Ubial's major priorities as the new health secretary. While the Philippines has yet to pass a mental health law,
the government has already taken initial steps to address certain needs of
people with mental health illnesses.
For one,
the health department has launched the HOPELINE Project, a 24/7 crisis support hotline for
depression and suicide prevention.
Ubial
said the Philippines is also looking at a community-based mental health
program, which Cuba also has.
She
added: "We're studying if that can be another facility or that can be [an]
add-on to the existing rural health unit but actually deploy separate human
resources for that."
Referral system in Cuba
Ubial and
her team observed a couple more things while in Cuba, one of which is the
country's referral system. (READ: Health chief Ubial: We'll spend to the max on
frontline services)
"People
cannot go to the hospital directly. They have to go to the primary facilities
and they are referred to the hospital. There's no private sector in Cuba, so
everyone has to go through the public facilities," she explained.
Here in
the Philippines, however, she believes the private sector can play an important
role to support government health facilities.
"There's
been a lot of collaboration and negotiations with the private sector physicians
to actually service the rural areas. So, the idea is for them to adopt a
hospital or a health facility. So, there is continuing effort of upgrading and
capacity-building."
Ubial
also noticed how the Cuban government pays for all health expenses of its
citizens, including drugs, medicines, and even the patient's transportation.
"If
a patient needs to be brought to the hospital, they have ambulance services,
but the ambulance is not linked to the hospital. It is an independent unit that
the doctor or community member would call so that the patient is brought to the
hospital."
Cuba's
prioritization of health shows in its national budget – a per capita
expenditure on health amounting to $460, according to Ubial.
The
Philippines, she said, only spends $76 per capita expenditure on health, based
on the 2015 budget.
The good
news is that the Cuban government has expressed its willingness to cooperate
with the Philippines for capacity-building and future exchanges.
"I'm
sure that our universal health care dream will benefit from the lessons that we
learned in the Cuban model. And we will continue to have this cooperation and
relationship with the Cuban Ministry of Health so that we can implement some of
their best practices."
During
their Cuba trip, Ubial and her team visited the Ministry of Health, the Family
Physicians Office, polyclinics, hospitals, training facilities, and other
support facilities such as the country's mental health unit, the maternity
waiting home for high-risk pregnant women, and the home for the elderly.
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