Inday Loren Ensures Antiqueños: Health is a Priority Wants Medicines for Senior Citizens, Toilet in Every Home

In celebration of World Health Day (April 7), Senator Inday Loren Legarda today assured her kasimanwas that providing quality health care services to Antiqueños and addressing issues that affect their health are among her priority programs.

Legarda, who is running for Representative of the Lone District of Antique under the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), said that she wants to provide free medicines, especially to senior citizens and indigent patients who need to take maintenance medicines.

“My great grandfather, Ariston Gella, was the first pharmacist in Antique and I want to continue his legacy by ensuring that all Antiqueños have access to free basic medicines as well as quality maintenance medicines for senior citizens and indigent patients,” said Legarda.

Legarda said that she is working with the Department of Health (DOH) for the Botika ng Bayan, a roving pharmacy that will give free medicines, prioritizing upland and far-flung barangays in Antique.

“For our senior citizens, we hope to provide better service by bringing their prescribed maintenance medicines to their homes through our barangay health workers (BHWs), because although maintenance medicines are free in health centers, some recipients have a hard time going to the centers and medicines are not mostly available. We will create a system with our BHWs and government accredited physicians and pharmacists for this program,” she said.

Meanwhile, Legarda also said that one of her programs when she becomes Congresswoman of Antique is to achieve zero open defecation status in the province.

“We cannot allow open defecation to exist in our province because this is a serious health concern. Basic sanitation services such as toilets or latrines are important because the lack of these facilities result in diarrheal diseases. The ideal is for every home to have their own sanitary toilet,” she said.

Legarda is already working to address this concern. Last month, she visited Ilabas Elementary School whose faculty and students requested for new toilets for their school. In less than a week, the new toilets, which she personally donated, were delivered to the school.

Legarda said she is finding out how many barangays and households still lack sanitary toilets so that this can be prioritized. She wants to make sure that all families in the province will have access to sanitary toilets within the year, and all families will have their own toilets by next year.

“I want Antique to become a model province for access to adequate sanitation and zero open defecation,” she stressed.

Legarda also said that she will ensure that local government units of the province will provide water in all barangays by developing water reservoir and deep wells with solar pumps to have sustainable drinking water in every barangay.

Aside from these programs on sanitation and free medicines, Legarda has already been providing other health care services for Antiqueños.

She has been reminding her kasimanwas that free health care and medical services are available to them in all government hospitals in the province through the Medical Assistance to Indigent Patient (MAIP) Program of the DOH. They can also avail of medical assistance, among others, through the DSWD’s Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS).

Legarda is also ensuring that all towns in the province have ambulances and all public hospitals and rural health units have improved services and facilities.

“Let not one individual die of sickness due to lack of health services or medicine, or because of poor facilities. The health of our people deserves to be given priority because it contributes to how they function in our society. A healthy province is a productive province and the more we invest in the health of our people, the greater we nurture the future of our province,” Legarda concluded.