The House Committee on Health has begun the process of consolidating at least 11 measures that seek to establish a medical reserve corps (MRC) that can be deployed to augment frontline health workers in times of emergency, like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Health Committee chairperson, Quezon 4th district Rep. Angelina Tan approved during a virtual hearing Tuesday the creation of a technical working group (TWG) to harmonize the different bills, which were all filed at least two months after the declaration of the pandemic.
Tan said subsequent TWG meetings would allow for "in depth" discussions on key provisions of the measure, such as determining the minimum requirements that the eventual law would ask from the "medical reservists."
The main question that emerged during Tuesday's hearing was whether or not the proposed MRC should be composed solely of licensed medical practitioners, or if graduates of four-year medical courses could also join the fold.
"Yung mga proposal natin magkakaiba siya eh (We have different proposals). My take is to gather all possible health human resource at the time of a pandemic, outbreak, or disaster. Ang importante dito is makita natin at ma-identify yung limitation of functions (What's important is for us to identify the limitation of functions)," said Tan, who is one of the authors.
The panel chair said the TWG would also see to it that legal questions are addressed since the medical reservists--once deployed—would be entrusted with the life, health and safety of the people they could be called upon to heal and assist.
President Duterte asked Congress in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 27 to set up an MRC, emphasizing it is a resource that is critically needed amid the public health crisis.
Tan, in her sponsorship of House Bill (HB) No.7331, cited a more recent occurrence in highlighting the pressing need for medical reservists. "On August 4, the President decided to revert the NCR (National Capital Region) Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, Rizal to Modified ECQ (Enhanced Community Quarantine), which ran until the 18th of the month, after (having been) placed for some time under a less stricter General Community Quarantine."
"This move stemmed from the distressed call of dozens of doctors groups that warned the Philippines was losing the COVID-19 fight and demanded for a time out to recalibrate the government's COVID-19 strategies and to give our medical frontliners a little rest," she said.
"Our country’s (health) workforce is scared, dying, and getting sick. If this is going to persist further, as it already has, then we need urgent reinforcement," the lady solon noted.
Under her bill, the medical reservists will be placed under the Emergency Management Bureau of the Department of Health (DOH-EMB), and will be given compulsory basic training and continuing training programs on responding to different national and local health emergency scenarios.
Another author, Deputy Speaker and Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, Jr. wrote in his explanatory speech of HB No.7007: "The lack of medical personnel is a key weakness in our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving our hospital frontliners thoroughly overwhelmed and exhausted."
"A medical reserve force specifically trained to supplement the existing human health resources will ease the burden in our healthcare system. This measure allows our hospitals and medical facilities to handle the extreme demand for patient care in times of disaster and health emergencies," he said.
Quezon City 5th district Rep. Alfred Vargas, in justifying the creation of an MRC, said in HB No.7157 that the "scarcity of medical professionals serves as a daunting reminder of our health services capacity amid threats of outbreaks and public health crises."
He said that as of April 2020 or during the height of ECQ implementation, there were only 10 doctors per 10,000 population in the NCR. The situation was way worse in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, where there are only 0.8 doctors per 10,000 people.
"With the COVID-19 continuing to persist in areas in the country, our medical professionals are challenged to increase human resources while still maintaining competence in delivering public health services," Vargas said.
Both HB No.7007 and HB No.7157 allow for the recruitment of medical reservists who have yet to acquire their license for their respective medical fields.