Recto laments PGH budget cut

MANILA, Philippines — “If the national budget increases every year without fail, then the budget of the Philippine General Hospital must rise with it.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said this Monday as he lamented the P456 million cut from PGH’s budget in the proposed 2020 national budget.

Recto explained that the budget, which is lodged under the budget of the University of the Philippines, will be reduced from P3.23 billion to P2.77 billion next year.

This equates to a budget cut of P1.25 million daily which could have been used to treat more patients and train more doctors, Recto said.

“Funding for the Philippine General Hospital is the national barometer of our health priorities. It is the national hospital, so the money it gets from the government reflects the importance government gives to health,” Recto said in a statement.

The senator argued that the PGH is “the first option and the last resort of the poor and the middle class to get the best medical treatment so any cut on its budget hurts the deepest.”

Further, Recto said that the budget should at least be retained, if not increased.

“The proposed 2020 budget of the PGH will harm its patients. Not only must the cuts be restored, its budget must be increased,” he added.

“This should likewise be done to the country’s ‘regional Philippine General Hospitals’, whose staff are as qualified and as dedicated as the PGH’s, medical centers such as Vicente Sotto in Cebu, Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City and in other major cities,” he added.