• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Mayor Alfredo Benitez has been authorized to designate the barangay health workers (BHWs) as Health Education and Promotion Officers (HEPOs) in the implementation of health promotion policies, programs, and activities in Bacolod City.
Councilor Claudio Jesus “Kalaw” Puentevella authored the resolution approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod, after the Local Health Board, presided over by City Health Officer, Dr. Ma. Carmela Gensoli, requested the SP for such resolution.
Puentevella, chairperson of the SP Committee on Health and Sanitation, said the BHWs of Bacolod should be designated as barangay-level HEPOs, to collaboratively function with other members of primary care provider networks in the city to ensure the proactive and effective implementation of health promotion policies, programs, and activities in the community.
For the citywide health system of highly-urbanized cities, like Bacolod, the technical and managerial oversight of the BHWs to ensure the seamless and standardized implementation of health promotion policies, programs, and activities shall be the responsibility of the CHO, through the local HEPOs.
Puentevella also said the city government “shall ensure a just and commensurate honorarium and financial and/or non-financial incentives and benefits for the BHWs,” adding that resources necessary to mobilize BHWs, including for honoraria, operational expenditure, equipment, and/or training costs may be sourced from the Special Health Fund and other local budgetary sources.
He stressed that BHWs remain as indispensable members of the local health system, serving at the frontline of the pandemic prevention and response actions in the community; assisting in the operations of barangay health stations, urban health centers, or rural health units; conducting house visits; and helping in organizing and mobilizing the community during health events and activities.
The country, meanwhile, marked May 7 as Health Workers’ Day, under Republic Act 10069, signed by then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on April 6, 2010.
The law gives due recognition to the important role and contributions of health workers, who provide vital health services to people, and to promote their rights and welfare and enhance their sense of worth and dignity. | CGC
