Recognizing the need to provide the public accessible health commodities within 24 hours in times of emergencies and disasters, Councilor Joel Alangsab is pushing for the creation of the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management for Health (DRRM-H) System for the city.
The proposed ordinance seeking to institutionalize the city’s DRRM-H system was approved by the city council on first reading during its regular session on Jan. 18 and was referred to the council’s committee on health, sanitation, ecology, and environmental protection.
The proposed measure provides the city’s DRRM-H plan shall be drafted and finalized by the City Health Services Office (CHSO) in coordination with different concerned government offices and shall be approved by the city mayor, updated on a timely manner, tested through drills and other forms of exercise, and widely disseminated to all stakeholders.
The CHSO shall lead in providing technical inputs and in the development of response efforts for health-related emergencies/disasters which shall be anchored in the DRRM-H plan.
The CDRRM-H plan shall be the overall road map of the city for response efforts towards disasters and emergencies. It shall be mainstreamed into all health and non-health policies, plans, and programs to build resilient mechanisms, especially in the communities.
All service delivery units, public or private, must integrate the DRRM-H system within their health facilities and develop their specific plans consistent with the provisions of the ordinance and with the Department of Health DRRM-H Planning Guide of 2018.
The City DRRM Office shall ensure the integration of the city’s DRRM-H plan into the CDRRM plan. The integrated CDRRM plan shall be crafted comprehensively in accordance with the national, regional, and city policies on disaster risk reduction.
The ordinance also seeks to create the city’s DRRM-H planning management consisting of the mayor; chairperson of city council committee on health; city health officer as the DRRM-H focal persons; medical officer IV as DRRM-H coordinator/manager; representatives from health care provider networks technical unit; CDRRMO representatives; and other members as may be deemed necessary.
The corresponding budget for the purpose will be based on the consolidated, integrated, and finalized CDRRM plan funded primarily by the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund.
The ongoing global health crisis has prompted Alangsab to propose the institutionalization of the system.
“Recognizing that the city-wide health system is currently strained amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, the DRRM-H is vital to disaster response to capacitate the CDRRMO and other units for their planning, implementation, financing, and operationalization of health response towards emergencies and disasters,” Alangsab said. – Jordan G. Habbiling
April 25, 2024
