Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Teodoro "Ted" Herbosa said on Tuesday, July 25, that the department is "very happy" with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s second State of the Nation Address on Monday.
"The rest of the Department of Health is very happy because I've been listening to SONA since I was a young boy, and I've never heard a SONA with so many references to health and public health," he said in a press conference during the celebration of the World Health Organization Philippines 75th anniversary in Taguig City.
"I think the president really wants to implement good (public) health," he added, noting that the president has given him an additional order to implement and supervise.
Marcos' statements regarding free dialysis and the issuance of pending healthcare workers (HCWs) allowances also received great responses from the audience, he said.
Delayed allowance "not DOH's fault''
Meanwhile, when asked for a reaction regarding the pending allowances for HCWs, Herbosa said that it was not the department's fault. "It's not our fault. It's always not our fault (jokingly). What happened was the previous dispensation distributed them to regional hub offices and the regional hub offices distributed to hospitals, and the efficiency of the delivery wasn't very good," he said. In order to fast-track the release of allowances, the health chief stated that they currently collect the list of names of HCWs who are yet to be paid so that they can dispense the payment themselves.