Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto has revealed that 626 Doctor to the Barrios slots remain unfilled, leaving millions of Filipinos in poor far-flung communities still lacking access to quality health care service.
According to Recto, only one in three slots in the government’s DTTB program was filled in 2015 and 2016, raising calls in the Senate to make the program’s incentives more attractive to convince more doctors and health care professionals to do rural practice.
Of the 946 available DTTB slots in 2015 and in 2016, the Department of Health managed to recruit only 320 doctors in both years, Recto said.
So with 626 unfilled DTTB slots, this means that 626 low-income municipalities and their millions of residents were deprived of medical services for lack of takers, he added.
Recto lamented that the number of DTTBs even decreased with the killing of 31-year-old Dr. Dreyfuss Perlas, who was gunned down by still unknown assailants in Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte last March 1.
Perlas served as a volunteer doctor in nearby Sapad, Lanao del Norte until the time he was killed.
“Konti na nga lang, nalagasan pa,” Recto said, noting that despite aggressive recruitment by the DoH, there were only few takers for what is seen as a hardship post that pays P56,000 a month. (Elena L. Aben)
