Ateneo holds forum on the potential and prospects of engaging the private sector for public health in the Philippines

The Ateneo School of Government, through the Ateneo Policy Center (APC), organized the forum “Privatizing Public Health: Potential, Prospects, & Pathways" last 03 May 2024 in a hybrid format. The forum’s main objective is to discuss ways on how the private sector can be better engaged toward achieving public health goals. 

In his opening remarks, APC Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Kenneth Y. Hartigan-Go, described the health situation in the Philippines as vastly complicated and complex, making public health a difficult concept to grasp. He added that public health is everybody’s business, and everyone has a role in strengthening the country’s health sector. 

Dr. Maria Carissa “Rizzy” Alejandro, Chief Transformation Officer of Healthway Philippines under Ayala Healthcare Holdings, Inc. (AC Health) and Chief Operating Officer of Healthway Qualimed Manila, was the main speaker during the Forum. During her talk, she discussed the potential of engaging the private sector to achieve universal health care in the Philippines. Further, she emphasized that privatizing public health will work with the right project (services outside the country’s core functions), right context (enabling regulatory, political, and financing environment), and right partners (aligned interests, risk-sharing, and mutual trust). 

The forum was attended in-person and online by representatives from the national government such as the Department of Health and the Department of Migrant Workers, the private sector including the Makati Health Department, Optum Global Solutions (Philippines) Inc, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, Philippine Foundation for Health and Development, Inc., Mary Mediatrix Medical Center, Philippine Red Cross Batangas Chapter, Boehringer Ingelheim (Philippines), Inc., and the academe.