Go files two bills to strengthen TB eradication program, expand PhilHealth coverage

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, has filed two bills to strengthen the national program for eradicating tuberculosis (TB) and to expand the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation’s (PhilHealth) coverage of treatment services for kidney failure.

One of the bills, Senate Bill 1748, seeks to amend Republic Act No. 10767, the Comprehensive Tuberculosis Elimination Plan Act.  The bill seeks to provide for the creation of a TB registry and monitoring system which will address the issue of the underreporting of TB cases, a gap identified in the 2016 National TB Prevalence Survey. The registry will record the personal information of all TB patients, the TB type, and the treatment received, among others.

The measure also seeks to expand the benefit package of PhilHealth for patients, adults and children alike, to include the coverage of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis.

In 2019, the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a joint call for the elimination of the infectious disease by 2030. TB remains a major public health issue in the Philippines having infected an estimated one million Filipinos. This is the third highest documented prevalence rate after South Africa and Lesotho.

“TB is preventable and curable, yet many Filipinos continue to die from this dreadful disease. We are making this a priority under the Duterte administration to finally put an end to TB,” DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III said.

Go’s other bill, Senate Bill 1749, aims to ensure that comprehensive renal replacement therapy services are available to all Filipinos suffering from end-stage kidney disease.

It expands PhilHealth’s benefits package for kidney transplantation and provides for the provision of free dialysis services to indigent patients.

The measure also mandates all national, regional, and provincial public hospitals to establish their own dialysis service facility.

The National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) estimates one Filipino develops chronic renal failure every hour. As of 2019, there are approximately 78,000 Filipinos who are registered as suffering from end-stage renal failure and require dialysis.

Go said that he remains committed to pushing for key health bills in the Senate to ensure better healthcare services for the people.

Proper healthcare is a right of every Filipino, he said.