MANILA: Prison and health officials on Monday joined hands to adopt a policy on improving the health of persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) in the country’s correction facilities.
The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), Department of Health, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Immigration, Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation signed the “National Policy on Promotion and Protection of Health in Jails, Prisons, Custodial Facilities, and Other Places of Detention” in simple rites at the Manila Hotel.
In a news release, the BuCor said the policy provides for the allocation of funds and resources, as well as ensuring “strategic directions in the implementation of policies, plans, and programs for health and development in places of detention; materials or management documents to support the implementation of the Healthy Places of Detention”.
‘This endeavor will further improve the quality of healthcare services being provided by BuCor to our PDLs through the Directorate fo
r Health and Welfare Services headed by Dra. Ma. Cecilia Villanueva,’ BuCor director general Gregorio Catapang said.
He said the policy would guarantee a strong collaboration among concerned agencies on improving PDLs’ health through their automatic inclusion in the National Health Insurance Program.
PDLs would also be granted eligibility to Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) packages under Republic Act 11223 or the Universal Health Care Act, Catapang said.
He said the New Bilibid Prison Hospital is one of the satellite treatment centers for tuberculosis (TB) in the National Capital Region.
He said PDLs confined in various corrections facilities of the BuCor are guaranteed 24/7 healthcare services.
‘I see to it that the provision of appropriate and continuous healthcare services were given to them the same way with that of the free community,” Catapang said.
According to BuCor, the top causes of inmate mortalities are pneumonia, cerebrovascular accident, acute respiratory failure, congestive
heart failure, end-stage renal disease, pulmonary TB, cardiogenic shocks, electrolyte imbalance and upper gastrointestinal bleeding.
Source: Philippines News agency
