REELECTIONIST Senator JV Ejercito is delighted over the completion of “preliminaries” in the ongoing drafting of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Universal Health Care law (UHC).
Ejercito, who earned the nickname “Mr. Healthcare” for spearheading the UHC, disclosed that the discussion of four (4) main components of the law have already been completed at the Technical Working Group level.
The components are the Local Health Systems, Health Financing, Governance, and Regulations and Service Delivery.
“I am happy because things are going well in the drafting of the IRR. As soon as the document is finished and the law is already operational, our people will finally be ‘freed’ from financial stress when seeking primary, curative, and palliative services,” he said in a statement.
He added: “I hope we can have the IRR by June, or July at the latest.”
The next stage of the process is the consolidation of the components and refinement of the final draft for approval of the Department of Health and PhilHealth.
“Then, the IRR will be published, and that’s it. Mararamdaman na ng taumbayan ang Universal Health Care na ating pinagsikapang maibigay sa ating mga kababayan,” Ejercito said.
President Duterte last February signed into law Republic Act No. 11223, otherwise known as “Universal Health Care Act.”
The UHC ensures that all Filipinos are guaranteed equitable access to quality and affordable health care goods and services, and protected against financial risk.
“Sa UHC, libre na ang check-ups at piling laboratory test. Sa UHC, basta Pilipino, automatic covered ng National Health Insurance Program. Sa UHC, magaan na sa bulsa ang pagpapagamot at palalakasin din ang primary care para sintomas pa lang ay maaagapan na at hindi na lalala ang sakit,” Ejercio said.