"We already approved the Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Bill at the committee level in the 15th Congress," announced Congressman Alfredo Marañon III, Chair, Committee on Health and 2nd District Representative of Negros Occidental, in his keynote speech during the opening ceremonies of the 5th PNHRS week celebration held at L'Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City on 10 August 2011.
PNHRS is a national framework for health research to promote cooperation and integration of all health research efforts. The mission of PNHRS is to ensure that all research outputs will contribute to evidence-informed health and health-related policies and actions. "When the bill turns into law, PNHRS will be institutionalized and there will be sustainable funding for health research in the country," said Congressman Marañon.
The 5th PNHRS week celebration, with the theme "Convergence in Divergence, innovations for better health," is participated by more than 400 health research stakeholders nationwide.
"This event is very important," said Congressman Marañon. "It brings people from the public, and the civil society, to share ideas to further improve the country's health care system through research and innovation."
He also cited that the biggest challenge for health research now is, "how to accomplish more with less resources. "With convergence in divergence as our core strategy we are more likely to come up with a consensus on the important research projects that will lead to improved health of the population and, consequently, progress."
"As stakeholders, we have a great responsibility to prepare to meet the health challenges in the future. Let us share our talents, tools, resources to the PNHRS network. Together, we can provide the solutions to our health problems," Congressman Marañon reiterated.
Participants also witnessed the signing of renewal of commitment to the PNHRS by the core agencies.
Representatives of the core agencies were Dr. Jaime C. Montoya, Executive Director of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (PCHRD-DOST), Dr. Marlyn Convocar, Assistant Regional Director, Department of Health (DOH)-Region VI, Commissioner William Medrano of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Dr. Lulu Bravo, Vice Chancellor for Research of the University of the Philippines Manila (UPM) and Executive Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of UP Manila.