Angara on Barangay Health Workers

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today said that a multi-party consensus should be firmed up in the next Congress to pass a law allocating P5 billion for the construction and staffing of barangay health centers in the country to augment the frontline institutions in the delivery of rural health care.

Angara, author of the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers, said that the delivery of rural health which is consistent and adequate is the governments best line of defense against the spread of diseases and toward good health.

Angara said the P5 billion allocation will dramatically increase the number of communities with baranggay health centers , which are pivotal, he added, in the states overall health care delivery network.

We can only realize a sustained health care delivery at the grass roots if all areas in the country are covered by baranggay health centers and staffed by fully-trained medical workers, said Angara , who worked hard to improve the working conditions of baranggay health workers through a law he authored the Baranggay Health Workers Benefits and Incentives Act.

Angara said that the baranggay health workers have been the unsung heroes in the states effort in undertaking mass vaccination and immunization, the delivery of health advisories, the delivery of basic health care.

A child in the rural area gets his or her fist vaccines in the baranggay health center. He or she reads all about nutrition, health care, good diet at these baranggay centers, Angara added.

Angara said he is hopeful that the next Congress would consider such multiparty initiative.

There are things that are over and above partisanship and these are education and health, said Angara .

Angaras involvement in the area of health legislation and advocacy is rooted in a deep family tradition . His late father , Juan Angara, was one of the first male nurses in the country and took up dentistry later to better serve his remote, mountain town of Baler , Aurora.

His late mother, Juana Javier, was a Manila-bred nurse, who left the big city to join his husband in his tough work as a health worker in the remote town.

My late parents were pioneering rural health workers. They could have gone to the big city to get employment in the big hospitals but they opted to practice in our remote town. I was witness to the joys and triumphs of their small-town careers, which at the most rewarded them with word of thanks from grateful people they took care of, said Angara .