In addition to its legal constituencies, the municipal authorities of Taytay provide health services to the people of Lupang Arenda, and to numerous other squatters. However, what are the difficulties of reaching these people? What has the Municipal Health Office done to improve these people’s access to essential health services?
This article from the Philippines Department of Health and Management Sciences for Health reviews the activities carried out and the challenges that the Taytay municipal government has faced to make health services available to slums and squatter sites. Lupang Arenda was declared a resettlement site through a presidential proclamation. The development of the area was abandoned due to the high cost estimated for landfill to increase the elevation of the area and minimize flooding. Squatters from all over metro Manila settled in Lupang Arenda, transforming it into another slum without basic services and amenities.
Lupang Arenda is under water for most of the year, making it difficult for health workers to enter the area to provide basic health services on a regular basis. The Municipal Health Office has carried out a series of activities to expand its services to the area. These include:
- Taytay participated in the Matching Grant Programme (MGP) of the Department of Health and focused the additional resources on improving the health conditions of women and children in this area
- A house-to-house survey has been conducted to identify women and children with unmet needs for health services such as family planning, immunisation, and vitamin A supplementation
- A section of the multipurpose hall was converted into a health station to provide on-site services, although occasional medical missions to the area are still organised
- Medical supplies and equipment are being procured to the Rural Health Unit that is now being constructed in the heart of Lupang Arenda as part of the municipal government’s financial contribution to the MGP
- Health workers are being recruited and trained to provide primary health services, do the house-to-house survey, and update the family profiles for the Community-Based Monitoring and information system
- A municipality-owned emergency hospital has recently opened, aiming to sustain the gains achieved under the MGP.
Yet, in order for the municipal government to develop a better plan for the area that incorporates a comprehensive package of basic services, the following conditions need to be fulfilled:
- The resettlement area has to be officially turned over to the municipal government. Only then will the municipality be able to invest its resources in the economic and social development of Lupang Arenda
- The gains achieved under the Matching Grant Programme have to be sustained and the municipality has to continue its efforts to improve people’s access to basic health services.
