Before 2015 ended, the Aquino administration through the Department of Health announced the good news to all Filipinos those suffering from non-communicable diseases (NCD) like hypertension and diabetes.
Through the Philippine Package of Essential NCD Intervention protocol of the DOH, those who believe have the symptoms of said diseases and those presently undergoing maintenance medication can avail of free medicines by becoming a member of Hypertension and Diabetes Club.
Nurse Federico De Vera Jr., NCD program manager of the DOH in Region 1, said their records show that being a member of either of the club or both would mean free access to the following drugs: Losartan, Amlodipine and Metoprolol for hypertension and Metformin for diabetes.
“This program will ease the financial burden of those undergoing maintenance medication and those who cannot maintain their medication due to financial difficulties,” said De Vera.
He said that based on their initial records, 69,696 are hypertensive while some 20,978 are diabetic. Pangasinan, being the most populated province, posted the highest number of hypertensive and diabetic patients with 28,814 and 20,978 patients respectively.
“We hope to cover all the confirmed patients in our initial list. We, however, encourage all who are not yet in the list to enroll in the clubs for them to benefit in this new program as well,” he added.
To join the clubs, patients must visit their nearest rural health unit (RHU) to undergo free assessment and screening. Once tested positive of hypertension and diabetes, they will be enlisted in the DOH registry and be given maintenance drugs in a monthly basis.
De Vera also said that part of the new health program is their distribution of 725 glucometer kits and 775 blood pressure apparatus in all the four provinces in the region in December last year, in time for the scheduled start of implementation of the program this January. These are equipment needed by nurses and municipal health officers to detect whether the patients that go to the RHU are eligible beneficiaries.
“For a more reliable registry of our patients, our local health officers will be given training on how to properly use the apparatus. Initially, we have slated a training for them early this quarter,” he said. # Source - (MCA/Joanne Namnama P. Dilim/PIA-1 La Union).
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