Legarda to ensure permanent positions for Barangay Health Workers

Honoring the service of barangay health workers (BHWs), Senator Loren Legarda today said that she will work on measures that would make BHW a permanent position in every barangay, ensuring that they will be provided with monthly salary and other benefits.

“Our barangay health workers have been our health information disseminators, the nurturers of expectant mothers and sick children, and the providers of genuine health care to the Filipino in the deepest nooks of the country. They have one of the toughest jobs and are one of the most dedicated sectors in government. However, it is distressing that their efforts come unrecognized and neglected. They are undermined with regard to their meager honorarium and tough working conditions,” said Legarda.

During the 15th Congress, the Senator had filed Senate Bill 1340 and Senate Bill 1384, measures that sought to protect the rights of barangay health workers by granting them with benefits and an adequate health insurance program.

Legarda said that she will re-file these measures in her next term. She also noted that these will complement the Universal Healthcare Coverage Bill, which she hopes will become a law before the end of the 15th Congress.

“The job of barangay health workers is crucial to the nation’s health care delivery system. Mass vaccination, family planning lessons, the monitoring of disease outbreaks, the dissemination of health information and the posting of health advisory bulletins and many other things are now part of the duties of barangay health workers,” she pointed out.

“It is essential that we have health workers in every barangay because poor Filipinos deserve to be administered affordable and accessible healthcare. In the same way, our barangay health workers, the State’s primary health care protectors, deserve to be armored with just compensation and an adequate health insurance program,” Legarda stressed.

Healthcare is among Legarda’s priorities in her next term. She said that she will ensure the enactment into law of the proposed Universal Healthcare Coverage Act, which will provide Philhealth benefits to the 25 million poorest Filipinos.