Malalag is a fourth class municipality which wants to provide
quality health services to its residents. It developed a
scheme of financing its health program by creating awareness
and inculcating the values of social responsibility for
health services among the people instead of relying solely
on government.
After a series of public hearings, the imposition of service
charges for health services and providing medicine at cost
were incorporated in the local revenue code. Service charges
for basic health services were socialized; those with income
of P15,000 and below pay 25% of the fixed service charge;
those with income of above P15,000 but not over P50,000
pay 50% in full. Priority for free medicine is given to
the low-income families.
While there was initial resistance during the early period
of implementation as indicated in the 15% drop in the number
of clients served, the people accepted and assumed responsibility
in taking care of their own health needs. This can be seen
in the 66% increase in clients served during the third year.
The program’s budget for three years is P687,000 but
it was able to generate over P1.0 million worth of free
medicine and medical supplies from the private sector and
as LGU equity. Networking and tapping of resources of other
government agencies and private organizations were also
pursued to provide better access to elective health services
such as major and minor surgery.
