BACOLOD City – The Sangguniang Panlungsod has urged the City Health Office (CHO) to allocate additional funds for the City Health Pharmacy and extend the same support to various barangay health centers.
This comes after the SP approved a resolution requesting the CHO, through the Office of Mayor Greg Gasataya, to ensure adequate funding for the purchase and free distribution of commonly used and maintenance medicines for the city’s priority sectors.
Councilor Em Ang, chairperson of the SP committee on health and author of the measure, identified the priority sectors as unemployed individuals, senior citizens, persons with disability (PWDs), pregnant women, children, fisherfolk, and ordinary laborers.
The CHO currently operates a City Health Pharmacy that provides free medicines to indigent patients. However, Ang noted that current funding and supply levels are often insufficient to meet the growing demand for maintenance and essential drugs.
She stressed the need to extend the free supply of medicines to barangay health centers to make these life-saving drugs more accessible.
“They must be provided free of charge and strictly not for sale,” Ang emphasized.
She added: “These beneficiaries are among the most economically and physically at-risk sectors of society and must be prioritized for free access to medicines.”
The resolution cited Section 15, Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which mandates the State to protect and promote the right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them. It also referenced Republic Act No. 7160, or the Local Government Code of 1991, which entrusts local government units (LGUs) with the responsibility of providing essential health services, including ensuring the adequate supply of medicines in health facilities./PN
