“To care for those who once cared for us, is one of the highest honors.”
This is how Vice Governor Rene Lopez Relampagos opened his privilege speech during the Regular Session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) on August 10, 2021, where he introduced his proposed ordinance to provide free maintenance medicines for Boholano senior citizens.
The proposed Buhat Pasultion Free Medical Assistance Program for Boholano Senior Citizens Ordinance ensures the availability of maintenance medicines and the accessibility of medical services to Boholano senior citizens.
Through this proposed ordinance, the Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh) complements, if not enhances, initiatives of the different Local Government Units (LGU) as well as implementing National Government Agencies (NGA) in providing the best healthcare service to elderly Boholanos.
In his privilege speech, Relampagos provided context behind the proposed ordinance by underlining the plight of the senior citizens in the country.
According to a 2018 study by the Demographic Research and Development Foundation, Inc. (DRDF) and the Economic Research Institute for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and East Asia (ERIA), 30% of the country’s older persons (OPs) reported an unmet need for medical attention.
Despite the prevalence of hypertension, arthritis, and diabetes among the senior citizen age bracket, 27% of hypertensive and 32% of diabetic senior citizens are not taking their prescription medicines.
This can be attributable to the problem of availability of medicines which is perennial in the Western Pacific region.
For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Report revealed that the supply for cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, is usually less available in the public sector in the region, with the Philippines recording the least median availability.
A separate study of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health highlights the high number of patients received by health centers and delays in the procurement of LGUs as reasons behind the lack of supply of maintenance medicines.
Partial filling of prescription medicines by medical doctors has been taken as a solution to this problem as health centers are unable to provide the right supply of prescribed medicines to senior citizen patients.
Relampagos pointed out that many senior citizens are unable to afford to buy their maintenance medicines. This leaves them to either self-medicate by using home remedies and traditional medicines or simply forego taking their medicines.
Relampagos addressed his fellow members in the SP and emphasized how none of them would want their parents or grandparents to “succumb to the frailties that come with old age without being provided the best quality healthcare service we can give.”
As a call to action, Relampagos stressed that “none of our beloved elderly Boholanos should experience that feeling of helplessness. Instead, they deserve the attention and assistance that we can give.”
To do so, the proposed Buhat Pasultion Free Medical Assistance Program for Boholano Senior Citizens aims to provide senior citizens, monthly maintenance medicine supply for hypertension, diabetes, and arthritis as well as free medical consultations, free laboratory services such as random sugar count and complete blood count, and free issuance of medical certificates, if needed, in any of the hospitals and medical facilities owned and managed by the Provincial Government of Bohol (PGBh).
According to Relampagos the proposed measure will help alleviate financial burdens of the elderly and their families in light of the economic challenges brought by the pandemic.
Relampagos’ proposed ordinance also supplements the PGBh’s goal of caring for the weak.
Furthermore, the proposed ordinance is also a way for the PGBh of honoring the contributions of the elderly to society.
“[Caring for the weak] encompasses the innate nature of a Boholano who is family-oriented, affectionate, and compassionate. [M]ore than fulfilling the mandates of our laws, we take care of our senior citizens as a way of giving back for their love, care, and sacrifices so we can be the people that we are today,” Relampagos said in his privilege speech.