The Department of Health (DOH) was conferred with the Gold Trailblazer Award and the Performance Governance System (PGS) Institutionalization status by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA) in recognition of its outstanding efforts to institutionalize good governance mechanisms on June 22, 2022.

PGS is a management system developed for Philippine public institutions by the ISA, an organization that advocates for good governance. The Institutionalization status is the last stage of the 4-stage PGS pathway that the DOH first adopted in 2009. Following a two-step audit by ISA and a third-party audit, the DOH was invited to share its governance transformation journey in an online public revalida.

“I believe that with the PGS institutionalized in the DOH, we will continue to effectively lead the health sector towards achieving the promises of Universal Health Care — for every Juan and Juana to have access to timely and quality health care without suffering from financial hardship. By building stronger and more responsive local health systems, our fervent commitment to make Filipinos among the healthiest people in Southeast Asia and Asia becomes closer to reality,” said Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III.

“As the term of this administration ends, we are proud of the big steps that we have taken towards the realization of Universal Health Care in the Philippines. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we have implemented UHC operational policies, provided capacity building to local government units and other stakeholders, and engaged with local health systems towards integration, to build more responsive health systems,” added Undersecretary Mario C. Villaverde of the Health Policy and Systems Development Team (HPSDT).