The Department of Health – Negros Island Region (DOH-NIR) deployed seven physicians under the Doctors to the Barrios (DTTB) Program to provide healthcare services to underserved and hard-to-reach communities in the region.

The doctors, part of the DTTB Batch 43-A, were endorsed to their assignments in various local government units (LGUs) on Wednesday after taking their oath before DOH-NIR Director Razel Nikka Hao at the agency’s regional office in Dumaguete City on Feb. 23.

They are Dr. Jahlel Torino and Dr. Fhoebe Madia, who have been assigned to La Libertad and Siaton, respectively, in Negros Oriental.

Those assigned in Negros Occidental are Dr. Kristene Louise Reyes (Calatrava); Dr. Marianne Louise Ruiz (Escalante City); Dr. Ian Jesrie Tabayan (Kabankalan City); Dr. Ariane Aristosa (San Enrique); and Dr. Trisha Marie Lotayco (Toboso).

Through the DTTB Program, LGUs without permanent physicians are provided with much-needed medical leadership to strengthen primary care services, improve local health systems, and ensure equitable access to quality healthcare.

“The latest deployment supports the full implementation of the Universal Health Care Act, particularly in addressing persistent health workforce gaps in underserved and hard-to-reach communities,” the DOH-NIR said in a statement.

A strategy under the National Health Workforce Support System, the DTTB aims to provide equitable healthcare services to all areas of the country by deploying competent, committed, community-oriented, and dedicated physicians to serve the inaccessible barrios in the identified LGUs for three years.

The assigned physicians are trained to be health leaders and managers in developing local health systems in a devolved set-up. (PNA)