Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Ted Herbosa

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Ted Herbosa says he is "embarrassed as a Filipino" whenever he compares Philippine health statistics to that of the country’s neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 

During the DOH's 2024 budget deliberation before the House Committee on Appropriations Wednesday, Sept. 6, Baguio lone district Rep. Mark Go asked Herbosa about the department's vision for the year 2040 in terms of health performance indicators. 

"We are now classified as a middle income country, and by 2040 we'll probably be labeled a high middle income country. But our health statistics has remained flat from low middle income," Herbosa answered. 

"In fact our ASEAN neighbors...Yung infant mortality natin steady lang. Yung sa kanila talagang bumaba na, napababa na nila with their efforts. Yung maternal mortality ganun din. Tayo medyo steady, bumababa naman, napapababa naman natin, but our neighbors are overtaking us," he said. 

(Our infant mortality is steady. Those of out ASEAN neighbors have gone down, they reduced it with their efforts. It's the same case with maternal mortality. Ours is steady, it has gone down, but our neighbors are overtaking us.) 

"So parang medyo nahihiya ako bilang Pilipino na yung ating mga (So I'm somewhat embarrassed as a Filipino that our) Thai and Vietnamese and Indonesian neighbors are overtaking us in parameters for health," the 64-year-old Herbosa said. 

Herbosa assumed the position of health chief under the Marcos administration only last June 5. 

His predecessor from the previous Duterte administration is Francisco Duque III. Duque was at the helm of DOH from 2017 to 2022. 

"So very important na mag-pursige pa tayo based on our level of economy. Kasi nga ineexpect tayo ng ibang bansa na maganda ekonomiya natin, dapat healthy din yung ating mga populasyon," Herbosa said. 

(So it's very important to work hard based on our level of economy. Other countries expect our population to be healthy since our economy is doing good.) 

He said the relevant indicators from the population include having a longer life span, lower infant mortality, lack of stunting among children, managing vaccine-preventable diseases, and lack of an outbreak. 

"Ano lang tayo, flat. We really need to do better para gumanda parin ang ating health indices (but our performance is flat. We really need to do better to improve our health indices)," noted Herbosa. 

The DOH has a proposed budget of P204 billion for 2024.