James Auste of the Cancer Warriors Foundation (CWF) suggested that it is okey to engage in spending splurge, so long as "we are investing in life" by prioritizing public health.
If we go back to Table 2 of the article above, this is the priority spending for 2012 (this year), out of the P1.82 trillion total budget:
1. Interest payment of public debt, P333.1 billion.
2. Local government units (LGUs) IRA, P291.6 B
3. DepEd, P228.9 billion
3. DPWH, P125.5 billion
4. DND, P106.9 billion
5. Personnel benefit (bonuses of gobyerno personnel) P101.5 billion
6. DILG, P96.2 billion
7. DA, P54.1 billion
8. DSWD P49.4 billion
9. DOH, P43.3 billion
10. Government corporations, P43.2 billion
I do not know how much of the P43.3 billion DOH budget is alloted to procurement of medicines. But I notice that many LGUs are spending high for local public health. The Manila City government alone maintains 6 city-owned hospitals, some are more modern than the UP-PGH, like the Santa Ana Hospital, 10 storeys high, fully air-conditioned.
From http://www.manila.gov.ph/manilahospitals.htm, these are:
Photos below, 1st row: Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, Justice Abad Santos Mother and Child (General) Hospital.
2nd row: Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center, Ospital ng Tondo II,
3rd row: Ospital ng Sampaloc, Santa Ana Hospital.
Other rich municipalities and cities and almost all provinces, have their respective municipal/city hospitals, provincial hospitals.
