Besides hundreds of non-existent or ghost flood control projects, the nation is now learning about ‘haunted hospitals.’
Unlike the flood control projects, the government health centers are in existence. But only 200 of 600 health centers built under the health facilities enhancement program or HFEP of the Department of Health are reportedly functional as of this year.
DOH Secretary Teodoro Herbosa had described the HFEP as the department’s own version of the flood control mess. Herbosa disclosed this during the plenary debates at the House of Representatives on the P253-billion budget proposed by the DOH for 2026.
Launched in 2008, the HFEP is supposed to provide funds for government health facilities to enhance access of the poor to health care. At the outset, the program aimed to augment the number of barangay health stations, rural health units, district and provincial hospitals as well as medical specialty centers. But many of the facilities could not operate due to lack of health professionals and other personnel.
Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno noted that over P170 billion had been allocated in the past decade for DOH infrastructure and equipment requirements alone. Including funds for personnel and commodities, the amount rises to P400 billion.
Despite those billions and the existence of the hundreds of health facilities under the HFEP, the government found it necessary to launch separate healthcare programs such as those under the Assistance for Individuals in Crisis Situations.
AICS and other unconditional dole-outs received more official attention apparently because they politicized healthcare and other ayuda programs, with politicians allowed to endorse patients and use the programs for their self-promotion by taking personal credit for state-funded aid.
The HFEP highlights the waste of precious public funds when project implementation is not properly coordinated. If public funds will be spent to construct a health facility, there must be sufficient coordination and follow-through with local government units and other relevant agencies to ensure that there will be enough personnel to operate the facility. Otherwise the structure will become a white elephant that will deteriorate with the passage of time.
Staffing health facilities has been a problem for a long time in this country as nurses, doctors and other health professionals opt for higher pay abroad. The problem reached crisis proportions at the height of the COVID pandemic.
Poor people lacking access to health care bear the brunt of the problem, but ultimately, all taxpayers are hit, as billions in public funds go down the drain.