MANILA, Philippines – The House Committee on Health on Wednesday approved a substitute bill that would establish the Malasakit Program and institutionalize centers in public hospitals.
This approval means that the still-unnumbered House Bill will be taken up in the plenary for the second reading, where house members may vote to approve or disapprove it.
During the public hearing, members of the said committee made suggestions on what parts of the still unnumbered house bill should be amended. Northern Samar 1st District Rep. Paul Ruiz Daza in particular requested for clarification on the way the bill is entitled.
According to information from the House of Representatives, the bill is named “An Act Establishing the Malasakit Program, Institutionalizing the Malasakit Centers in Public Hospitals”.
“The way the proposed bill is worded, ‘establishes the Malasakit Program, institutionalizing the center’, it gives an impression that we would have to create another bureaucracy,” Daza, one of the consolidated bill’s co-authors, told the committee.
Representatives from the Department of Health (DOH) clarified that there is a difference between the two terms.
“The difference is, when we talk of program, it’s not limited only to financial protection, but we have to expand it by also providing services that would improve the experience of the patients in the hospitals,” DOH Facility Development officer-in-charge Gabrielle Doromal said.
“If we are talking about a center, investment on infrastructure because the design has to be appropriate that would provide privacy and confidentiality for the patients also, because we have programs or services that will address their psychosocial needs,” she added.
The Malasakit Center, a pet project of then presidential aide and now Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, is a one-stop shop facility inside hospitals. Using these centers, poor patients can access government services without having to actually be present in the concerned agency’s main or satellite offices.
Under its current form, Malasakit Centers provide financial aid through funding from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. This was something that opposition lawmaker Albay 5th District Rep. Edcel Lagman scrutinized, as it allegedly serves as “a partisan tool rather than a medical outlet”.
Go had slammed Lagman for his comments, with the former saying the latter’s face is beyond repair.
READ: Go hits Lagman for questioning Malasakit Centers: ‘Your image is beyond repair’
If the proposed bill is passed and enacted, funding of the Malasakit Program and its centers would be included in the national budget, under the General Appropriations Act.
Aside from Daza’s suggestions, Baguio City Rep. Mark Go also cautioned on providing a very wide coverage of medical services, as it may not be fulfilled due to budget constraints.
Under Section 9 of the proposal, medical assistance to indigent and financially-incapacitated patients include those not paid for by PhilHealth include:
- laboratory, imaging, and all other diagnostic procedures
- drugs and medicines
- supplies, orthopedic and assistive devices, prosthesis, blood and blood products
- dental services, except those that are for aesthetic purposes
- medical and surgical procedures
- prescribed post-hospitalization rehabilitation services, aftercare program, appropriate metal and psychological support,
- all hospital bills including professional fees
- all other medical, health, documentary and related services billed by the hospital.
“Ang question ko rito, are these things doable, itong mga sinabi natin dito kasi we’ll create expectations from people eh […] Masyadong mahirap gawin iyon kasi malaking budget ito, and if you put that in a law like this, then they will, you know, they will demand,” Go explained.
“The expectations we create might require a lot of money from the government. ‘Wag nating ilagay ‘yong mga provisions na hindi naman talaga kaya nating gawin,” he added. /je
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