Better no money than be dead

BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon

Health is wealth, a tired cliché goes. As one goes older, one has to deal with a body ravaged by time, cholesterol, alcohol, salt, smoke, stress and others that slowly weaken the immune system.

It was unthinkable some years ago that I would be afflicted with arthritis. Now, the pesky rayuma rears its ugly head every now and then when I neglect exercise. Aside from sinusitis, I also have to contend with failing eyesight. It’s still okay when I read but nowadays, any font below eight points is a struggle.
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A doctor prescribed eyeglasses, but I don’t use it anymore since it gets me dizzy. Most of my 40-something up peers also complain of ailments they haven’t experienced in their younger years. It is a time of “awakening” on importance of health.

Like most of my peers, I have stopped smoking and lessened drinking. But eating less of pinulpugan (singed pork) during canaos (Igorot indigenous rites) is one thing I still have to learn. Pinapaitan, I can dispense with. But then, when some friends invite me to the slaughterhouse karinderias in Baguio, it is always a struggle to forego with it. But then, one has to be more disciplined at this age. Better to have a healthy body with no money than be rich but dead or paralyzed with sickness.

For people reaching the age of “enlightenment” (this maybe the politically correct term hehe), medical care and healthy living are a must. But then, medical services are high. For those who have the means, it is a breeze but for the marginalized, it is high time government looks more into alleviating their plight.
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In relation to this, it is a welcome development that Liberal Party president Sen. Mar Roxas filed a bill seeking appointment of health workers in every barangay nationwide as frontline health workers, especially at this time that the global financial crisis has hit home.

Roxas filed Senate Bill No. 3012, or the proposed Barangay Health Workers Act of 2009, seeking the appointment of at least five barangay health workers in each of the country's 41,994 barangays.

"Sa panahong ito ng krisis, mahalagang unahin natin ang kalusugan ng bawat isa, at pwede nating gawin ito kung magtatalaga tayo ng mga health workers sa ating mga barangay (In this time of crisis, we must protect the health of our people first and foremost, and we can do that by appointing health workers in each barangay)," he said.
The delivery of basic services and facilities such as health and social welfare services were devolved to the local government units following the enactment of the 1991 Local Government Code.
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"It is, however, ironic that while barangay health workers are the front-liners in providing health care services to the community, there is no existing mechanism to secure that all barangays are equipped with the services of their own barangay health worker. This bill seeks to remedy this situation," the author of the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008 explained in filing the bill.

Under the proposed SB 3012, a barangay health worker shall refer to a person who has undergone training program under any accredited government or non-government organization primarily to render health care services. Health workers eligible for the job shall be duly-accredited by the municipal or city health board in accordance with guidelines set by the Department of Health.
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The bill also allows each of the country's barangays to hire at least five health workers, who shall be entitled to allowances and benefits similar to that received by other appointed barangay officials, as well as security of tenure. The barangay health providers can only be dismissed from work based on valid cause as provided under existing civil service rules and regulations.

It likewise mandates the Department of Interior and Local Government, in coordination with the Civil Service Commission, to promulgate within 90 days from its enactment the rules and regulations necessary to implement its provisions.