A senator filed a measure seeking to provide free annual medical check-ups to all Filipinos to allow early detection of serious ailments.
Senator Juan Edgardo M. Angara filed Senate Bill 2297 or the proposed Free Annual Medical Check-Up Act.
In a statement, Mr. Angara said many Filipinos do not seek medical care in their lifetime or only do so when they are already at a critical stage. Many of them resort to traditional healing because they are poor, he added.
“Undergoing annual medical check-ups are considered as essential especially at this time when we are facing a pandemic that has already resulted in the deaths of over 20,000 individuals and the infection of close to 1.4 million in our country,” he said.
“Early detection of potentially deadly ailments such as heart diseases or diabetes can save lives,” he added.
Under the bill, Filipinos will be entitled to free annual medical check-ups that will be provided by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. under the Universal Health Care law.
Filipinos can avail themselves of free check-ups for the entire year and the state-insurer should have a system to secure that everyone will be accommodated. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas