Wednesday, April 5, 2000
Welcome to a ‘Sentrong Sigla’
PARRELLING down a narrow, dusty
road, our vehicle came to a halt in front
of a compound wanted with overhanging
trees and what looks like a vegetable
garden. “Welcome to the Rural Health
Unit III of San Isidro, Lubao, Pampanga”
proclaims an assign above the iron gate.
Dr, Reynaldo Alipio, the health center’s
director, welcomes us with warmth and
brisk efficiency. Even before we can
catch our breaths, he has led us to his
vegetable garden, children’s playground
and to a ???aining area where some
volunteer barangay health workers are
undergoing an orientation.
Having already said a mouthful even
before we could set foot inside the health
center, Alipio merely grins as he ushers is
into the waiting area, one side of which is
also the center’s children’s health center.
The “Under-5 clinic” boasts of a cheerful
mural on the wall, adorned with old toys
hang from the ceiling and discarded crib
mobiles. “I got these from my children
who’ve outgrown their toys,” Alipio
enthuses, leading us past his smiling staff
to the rest of the center, including an
examination and consultation room, a
small laboratory and his office which also
doubles as another examination room.
The RHU of San Isidro serves the
barangay’s ?10 families, and a population
of 32,000. One of three RHU’s in Lubao,
then San Isidro clinic serves from 30-50
clients a day. Impeccably clean, with
bright and cheery interiors and personnel
whose ebullience they all seem to have
imbibed from their energetic director, the
San Isidro RHU is one of the firs rural
health units in the country to be
recognized as the :Senntrong Sigla” or
literally a “Center of Vitality.”
Earlier, Dr. Felicitas Ureta of the
Department of Health and Chair of the
Quality Assurance component of the
Sentrong Sigla Movement, had told us
that the moment you step into a winning
clinic, you can feel the difference. You
can feel the energy and efficiency of the
staff and the good feelings of the clients.”
By this yardstick one, the San Isidro
around the country aimed promoting
quality health services in government
health centers and at making these
services available to every Filipino.
Unfortunately, public health clinics
and government hospitals have earned
a reputation for shoddy service and
less than reliable treatment. A focus
group study financed by private
sources has found that complaints
from the public about the quality of
service received at the health centers
are fairly uniform. Many complain
about the long queues and abrupt,
hostile reception given by the health
center personnel. Other bemoan the
rigid schedule of services, being told to
come back, for instance, because they
wanted family planning information on
a day devoted to immunizations. This,
after the clients, who are already poor,
had taken timed off from work or
domestic duties and spent for their
transportation.
But the biggest complaint of all was
the discrimination they experienced at
the hands of health center personnel.
“If all of us in the line are wearing
slippers,” said an informant, “and a
latecomer arrives wearing shoes, you
can bet the one wearing shoes will be
let in first.”
No wonder the respondents of the
study said that they would be willing to
pay for private services, even if they
could avail of them for free from
government facilities, as long as they
could be assured of good treatment at
the hands of nurses, midwives, and
doctors and that everyone would be
treated equally.
***
CLEARLY, not only the image but
more importantly, the actual quality of
service delivery meets accepted standards
anywhere in these islands.
This is where the Setrong Sigla
Movement comes in.
To make sure that health centers and
hospitals meet the basic criteria for
effective and quality services, the
Sentrong Sigla Movement has launched a
certification and recognition program that
develops and promotes standards of care.
A health center or hospital which has
been certified as meeting these quality
standards is awarded the Sentrong Sigla
“yellow sun” logo, a symbol which tells
the public that “in this facility, people can
expect the health providers to be
consciously on the look-out for ways to
improve, maintain and sustain the quality
of services.
***
TO FIRST earn the “yellow sun,” a
health center or hospital must first
submit a self-assessment form which
measures compliance with standards in
eight areas of quality: infrastructure
and amenities (clean water and
functional toilets, for instance), basic
health services (including
immunization and monitoring of
children’s growth), attitudes and
behavior of health workers, human
resources (are there enough staff to
meet the clients demands?), equipment
and laboratory capability, sufficient
drugs, medicines and supplies, a health
information system, and community
intervention.
A hospital or health center must
then request for an assessment visit
from the regional health office, which
in turn endorses a list of qualified
facilities to the DOH central offices.
The DOH then sends a validation team
to the center to personally inspect the
facilities, after which the certified
facility is recognized as a “Sentrong
Sigla” and allowed to display the
“yellow sun.”
A recognition is not permanent,
however. Every certified facility is re-
assessed and monitored twice a year,
RHU more than the golden “sun” which
is Sentrong Sigla’s symbol, proudly
hanging on their wall.
THE SENTRONG Sigla Movement is a
joint effort of the Department of
Health and local governments units
062307-062908
the services rendered by the government
health facilities needs drastic
improvement. And with responsibility
and funding for health services devoted
to local government units. All the more
urgent is the need to ensure that health
and if a clinic fails to maintain
standards for two consecutive rating
periods, the Sentrong Sigla seal is
removed until it can live up once more
to everything that the yellow sun
symbolizes. (More tomorrow)