Policy and Legislative Reforms

To strengthen service provision under the New Normal, hiring of human resource for health (HRH) to augment local health systems, innovations such as conduct of online examination, virtual interview of applicants and use of virtual platforms for the conduct of Pre-Deployment Orientation of newly-hired personnel will be introduced starting second half of 2020.

On the other hand, LGUs will also invest on electronic based training facilities that espouse the physical distancing prevention strategies to ensure that health workers continuously receive updates on the delivery of health services. Towards the New Normal, LGUs and other stakeholders will be capacitated in the utilization of digital technology in lieu of the current norms and work culture requiring mass gatherings and face-to-face interaction.

Engage research stakeholders to generate evidence-based information on Emerging and

Re-emerging Infectious Diseases. COVID-19, being a novel infection, has no established database from which plans can be anchored. Appropriate health response is not timely delivered due to the lack of evidence-based plans. This pandemic is now an enormous challenge for the research community and calls for immediate action to accelerate the research and development process, and develop evidence-informed health-related policies, standards and new norms.

With the said gaps in the availability of local data, the DOH will facilitate and enable the engagement of the stakeholders of the research community in the region to build a more comprehensive database. Further, the DOH will support researches on emerging and reemerging diseases. The project starts from research agenda-setting to include the new priority research topic, call for proposals to engage a research stakeholder who shall implement the research, and conduct of dissemination and utilization of research results among stakeholders.

Policy and Legislative Reforms The following proposed policy and legislative reforms for the health sector will be supported:

1. Revisit salient provisions of the NDRRM Act (RA 10121) especially on increasing contingency budget for the management of health-related concerns. The five percent (5%) Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund (LDRRMF) will be increased to support disaster risk management activities such as, but not limited to, predisaster preparedness programs including training, purchasing life-saving rescue equipment, supplies and medicines, for post-disaster activities, and for the payment of premiums on calamity insurance.

Also the Quick Response Fund, which is thirty percent (30%) of the LDRRMF will be increased to cover the relief and recovery programs in areas stricken by health emergencies such as the COVID-19, and other disasters, calamities, epidemics, or complex emergencies.

2. Amend the Magna Carta of Health Workers to increase benefits, specifically on the subsistence allowance for health workers and ensure that these will cover all health workers from the national to local levels. From 1991 to present, public health workers