DAVAO CITY – Across all basic health system indicators, the City
Government of Tagum made a significant headway in ensuring an
all-inclusive, non-discriminatory health services delivery for
Tagumenyos, as shown in the roadmap developed by the Department of Health, the Zuellig Family Foundation and the Davao Medical School Foundation.
This was presented during the colloquium held recently where Mayor Allan L. Rellon and City Health Officer Dr. ArnelFlorendo highlighted the significant gains of the local government in realizing the promise of health care agenda as enshrined in the EAGLE WINGS Program of the current administration.
“We have been outstanding in terms of leadership and governance, health financing, health human resource, access to medicine and technology, health information system and most importantly, health service delivery,”stressed Mayor Rellon at the conclusion of the one-year Municipal Leadership Governance Program which aims to compel local chief executives to set their focus on the gaps and opportunities challenging the health portfolio in their respective local government units.
Arlene Gella, Vice President of Zuellig Family Foundation,
specifically noted in her speechTagum’simproved performance on
maternal and child care since 2013 like zero maternal death,
decreasing the number of infant death, 95.3% facility-based birth
delivery against the 90% national target and availability of skilled
birth attendants at 95% against the 90% national target.
The roadmap also showed mostly green remarks (denoting outstanding performance) for key areas like budget utilization, medicine tracking and inventory system, barangay health infrastructure and reproductive health.
Rellon and Florendo are among the 12 Davao del Norte mayors and local health officers who completed the course that was mainly organized by the Zuellig Family Foundation in partnership with DOH and DMSF.
The local chief executive noted however that the work is far from
over, citing the red and yellow marks that denote weak spots of the local government. This included reducing the rate of teenage
pregnancy, achieving full immunization for children and full
implementation of the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers.
Tagum’s outstanding performance as well as for accomplishing the MLGP was rewarded by DOH XI with a performance incentive amounting to 200,000 pesos. Louie Lapat/CIO Tagum
