AKBAYAN Party announced today that it supports the decision of AKBAYAN Executive Committee member and UP Professor Randy David to run against GMA in Pampanga’s second district.

“We have been convincing him to run for national office, but ‘David vs. Gloriath’ is a grander, nobler fight,” AKBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros said. “AKBAYAN is 100% behind Randy David, and I, along with AKBAYAN Representative Walden Bello, will personally campaign for Randy.”  

AKBAYAN Representatives Risa Hontiveros and Walden Bello filed a bill that establishes a program for barangay health workers (BHWs) to train them as midwives, nurses, doctors and other health professionals. (Download the bill)

“Global outbreaks like the swine flu are exacerbated by our lack of nurses and doctors. This program could help fill the gap created by the migration of our health professionals,” said Rep. Hontiveros, the principal author of the measure. “Furthermore, with better training, our BHWs could become an effective and efficient first line of defense against the swine flu and other diseases.”

“The migration of our health professionals has seriously impaired the provision of health services, especially at the community level. Hospitals have actually closed down in the past three years because of the lack of nurses and doctors,” Rep. Hontiveros said.

She said that an innovative training program for BHWs could help reverse the brain drain. “It is true that we lack nurses and doctors. However, our pool of potential health professionals could be expanded if the government could tap and capacitate our BHWs, which today number around 1.3 million,” Rep. Hontiveros pointed out.