BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance appropriating the amount of P1 million from the annual budget of the city government for the purchase of health apparatus and kits for all health volunteers in the city.
The ordinance authored by Councilors Leandro B. Yangot, Jr. and Levy Lloyd Orcales stated the City Health Services Office will be tasked to formulate the guidelines necessary for the successful implementation of the proposed local legislative measure.
The proponents stipulated that the health volunteers of the local government, particularly the barangay health workers, barangay nutrition scholars and barangay nutrition actions officers, are always at the forefront in the delivery of basic health services in the grassroots level amidst being exposed to the elements and the danger of acquiring illnesses that could compromise their health condition.
Despite their reported perseverance to help deliver quality health services to the people, the ordinance claimed they are allegedly burdened by the lack of appropriate health apparatus and kits for them to effectively and efficiently perform their assigned duties and responsibilities.
According to the proponents, their proposal seeks to eventually address the concern with the ultimate goal of further levelling-up the quality of health services in the city.
The proponents argue that the city government is obliged to provide quality health services to the people in the barangays, thus, it has tapped the services of barangay health workers, barangay nutrition scholars and barangay nutrition action officers as partners in ensuring that such basic health services will be cascaded to the grassroots level.
Further, they added that the said health volunteers sacrifice their time, effort and even resources without sufficient benefits from the local government, except for meagre honoraria, and health kits can help them in preventing acquired illnesses that may compromise their health and affect their performance in delivering quality health services.
While it is true that the barangays and the local government provide the health volunteers with honoraria, the proponents state one of the important aspects of their job that is lacking to date is the health kits they could use to prevent them from acquiring illnesses in the performance of their assigned duties and responsibilities, thus, they were compelled to file the proposal to benefit the said volunteers.
For the past several years, the health volunteers had been clamouring for additional subsidy and benefits from the local government but inadequate funds constrained the grant of the requested benefits to date.
The proposed ordinance was calendared for first reading last Monday but the same was not discussed due to the lack of quorum by the city’s local legislative body.
Health volunteers remain optimistic that the proposed ordinance will be passed by the next batch of local legislators who will be comprising the local legislative body.
By Dexter A. See