DOH Sec wants Bohol’s Purok Model as blueprint for nationwide healthcare  

(DOH) Secretary Ted Herbosa

photo credits: Google

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Ted Herbosa is set to initiate a nationwide grassroots Primary Healthcare program, taking inspiration from Bohol’s Purok Network Model.

This revelation came from Bohol First District Rep. Edgar M. Chatto, who hosted a breakfast meeting with the Health Secretary yesterday morning at the Boholano lawmaker’s residence in Tagbilaran City.

The primary healthcare program aims to be a community-based organization that will bolster the connection between health services and the Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Service (BUCAS).

Secretary Herbosa visited Bohol this week to inaugurate the BUCAS centers in Trinidad and Tagbilaran.

The Bohol Purok Network is a community-based neighborhood self-governance system that has been implemented across the entire province of Bohol. It was institutionalized through Provincial Ordinance 2011-036 during Chatto’s tenure as governor.

The model was first conceptualized and implemented as a health and information management system in Balilihan in 1988 when Chatto was mayor. It was later expanded to encompass more sectors across the province when he assumed the role of governor in 2010.

In this setup, health and sanitation form the core of every purok, along with six other crucial frontline service sectors. 

These include agriculture and food sufficiency; education, culture, and technology; tourism and livelihood; peace, security, information system, and DRRM; infrastructure, land, and natural resources utilization and protection; and youth, women, PWD, senior citizens, civil society, and faith organizations.

Health continues to be a key development pillar for Chatto. 

As Bohol governor from 2010 to 2019, he championed the modernization of the province’s district hospitals and facilitated a Master’s Degree program for doctors, particularly hospital chiefs, with professors commuting from Manila.

Chatto further fortified the province’s health systems by expanding the Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital in Tagbilaran and establishing a multi-specialty medical complex in Cortes.

To supplement these efforts, Chatto initiated the opening of the School of Medicine at the Bohol Island State University (BISU). This move ensures the province produces doctors who will serve in hospitals and rural health units.