Creation of specialty hospital regional branches pushed
A measure seeking to create regional specialty centers across different hospitals in the country was in the House of Representatives.
House Bill 6857 or the Regional Specialty Hospitals Act authors Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte and Benguet Rep. Eric Yap stressed the need of Filipinos in having access to affordable and quality healthcare services.
The bill aims to establish regional branches of specialty hospitals such as the Philippine Heart Center, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine Children’s Medical Center and the Philippine Cancer Center.
Duterte explained that the country’s great majority frequently opts for specialty hospitals in the country or the ones that specialize in a particular disease or condition.
To date, the Philippine Heart Center, National Kidney and Transplant Institute,, Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, and the Philippine Cancer Center are all located in Metro Manila.
“However, in order to afford the expertise of the hospitals’ medical professionals and its advanced amenities and equipment, patients are being encumbered by the additional expenses on transportation and accommodation for their medical needs to be catered, most especially those that are from far-flung areas or provinces,” Duterte added.
Yap, on the other hand, pointed out that the Department of Health (DOH) has crafted a development plan for specialty care as part of the Philippine Health Facility Development Plan (PHFDP) 2020-2040, which primarily includes the development of 328 specialty centers across different hospitals in all regions in the country.
“In addition, no less than the Local Government Code of 1991 (LGC) itself has devolved the health services to the LGUs with the objective of making quality health services easily accessible to every Filipino. The case of decentralizing specialty hospitals are no different,” Yap added.
Yap said the 1987 Constitution guarantees an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development that is endeavored in making health services available to the people at an affordable cost.
The proposed measure also ensures that three years upon its enactment, at least one specialty hospital should be built in the Northern Luzon, Southern Luzon, Visayas, Northern Mindanao, and Southern Mindanao.
