Medical personnel in public schools proposed
Published June 8, 2020, 2:58 PM
Mindful of the World Health Organization’s call to its member-states to make schools as “entry points for health promotion, and locations for health intervention”, the Makabayan bloc is proposing that at least one doctor and one nurse be stationed in every public elementary and high school in the country.
ACT Teachers partylist Rep. France Castro led the filing of House Bill No. 6837 or the proposed Doctors and Nurses in Schools Act of 2020 to ensure that the school has enough personnel and facilities to fully promote the child’s right to health.
Under HB 6837, the progressive lawmakers noted that more than 27 million Filipino children and youth spend a third of their daily lives at school.
“For many, especially those in far-flung areas where public hospitals and clinics are even rarer than schools, the school is the first and the most accessible point of contact with health services. Public schools, therefore have the potential of being the place where children can be provided with preventive, curative, and supportive health interventions,” Castro said.
She noted that the proposed measure is “one way to comply” with the WHO’s recommendations, ensuring that appropriate, adequate and professional medical attention will be given to the Filipino students.
“This global direction of making schools as entry points for health promotion and locations for health intervention is even more urgent now that our country is in the middle of a fight against the novel coronavirus—anticipated to be a long-term one—and government is considering the reopening of schools,” she said.
“A return to the “new normal” should pertain to a return to what is ideal, especially where the best interests of children are concerned, and not simply a return to what has been, which is far from ideal. Approval of this bill will guarantee that medical solutions are indeed front and center in the government’s anti-COVID response,” Castro added.
HB 6837 tasks the Department of Education (DepEd) to ensure that there is at least one doctor, and one nurse, dully license by the Professional Regulatin Commission, stationed in each large public elementary and high school, and one doctor and one nurse per cluster of small schools.
The DepEd, in coordination with the Department of Health (DOH), is expected to categorise schools into large and small schools considering the most manageable doctor-student, and nurse-student ratios, the bill provides.
“After a year of implementation and in consideration of the annual increase of the student population, School Heads shall undertake periodic evaluations as to the necessity of providing additional doctors and nurses in their respective schools and shall make the corresponding recommendations to DepEd,” the bill provides.
The provision of school doctors and nurses shall include the provision of the standard equipment or facilities for them to respond to emergencies and diseases common to the immediate community, such as the standard health and/or emergency kits.
Within 30 days after the effectivity of the proposed Act, the DepEd, in consultation with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the DOH, is tasked to promulgate the implementing rules and regulations necessary for its implementation.
The amounts necessary for the implementation of the proposed Act shall be charged against the savings of the DepEd and thereafter, the funds shall be provided in the annual General Appropriations Act, the bill provides.
Joining Castro in filing HB 6837 are Bayan Muna partylist Reps. Carlos Isagani Zarate, Ferdinand Gaite, and Eufemia Cullamat; Gabriela partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan partylist Rep. Sarah Jane Elago. (Charissa M. Luci-Atienza) ###
SOURCE: https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/06/08/medical-personnel-in-public-schools-proposed/
