By the end of the second quarter this year, the Department of Education (DepEd) is eyeing to establish more than 1,800 additional dental and medical clinics in schools across the country.
“We are looking to equip more schools with clinics equipped with a lavatory and water system for handwashing and cleaning needs, comfort room, and patient's receiving area in our commitment to strengthen schools’ capacity to protect our learners, especially with our current situation,” said Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones in a statement on Friday, March 19.
In line with DepEd’s commitment to nurture healthy learners, these clinics will also have health personnel, a medical officer, dentist, and nurse, and an alternate trained clinic teacher who will supervise the clinic in their absence.
The said clinics, DepEd said, will be built under the School Dental Health Care Program (SDHCP).
Bureau of Learner Support Service (BLSS)-OIC Director Lope Santos III, during his monitoring of various “Oplan Kalusugan (OK) sa DepEd” programs in DepEd Central Luzon, said that these “clinics can also cater to students in other nearby schools, both elementary and high school.”
The “OK sa DepEd” is a convergence initiative of DepEd’s health and nutrition program. It was officially launched in 2018 as one of DepEd’s flagship health programs.
Spearheaded by the Office of the Undersecretary for Administration, through the School Health Division of the Bureau of Learner Support Services, the “OK sa DepEd Program” features the convergence of DepEd’s plans, policies and activities and showcases the major school health programs of the department.
These include the School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP); National Drug Education Program (NDEP); Adolescent Reproductive Health Education (ARH); Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Schools (WinS); Medical, Dental, and Nursing Services; and the School Mental Health Program.