DBM hit for cutting health budget By Gerry Baldo 09/12/2011

DBM hit for cutting health budget

By Gerry Baldo 09/12/2011

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad was criticized anew for slashing the budget of the Department of Health (DoH) in half thereby demeaning the much needed funds that would benefit the millions of poor Filipinos.

According to Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño, the budget of the DoH, should at the very least, be pegged at P80 billion for 2012.

Casiño said that during a congressional budget hearing, Health Secretary Enrique Ona admitted that the P42 billion proposed budget under House Bill 5023 or the General Appropriations Bill was only half of what the department had requested.

Among those that were removed by the DBM include the P50-million Subsidy to Indigent Patients for Confinement in Specialty Hospitals; the P2.1-billion for the Implementation of Magna Carta Benefits of Public Health Workers; P25.3-billion for Health Facilities Enhancement Program which was reduced to only P5 billion and the Implementation of the Doctors to the Barrios and Rural Health Practice Program which was slashed from P5.9 billion to only p1.7 billion..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20110912nat1.html