Hospitals need upgrading during pandemic, Go says at 86th Malasakit Center opening

Sen. Christopher Go attened the opening of the 86th Malasakit Center on Friday, Oct. 9, 2020, in Mati, Davao Oriental. (Photo from his office)

MANILA, Philippines — The government should improve its hospitals and services, especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic, Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go said on Friday at the opening of the 86th Malasakit Center at the Davao Oriental Provincial Medical Center in Mati.

“That’s the solution that we see,” Go said in Filipino at the opening in a speech he delivered, parts of which were quoted in a statement issued on Sunday.

“So many hospitals nationwide lack beds. Some [patients] are lined up in the corridors with two persons sharing one bed. That’s dangerous. They risk getting infected at this time,” he added.

As chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, he said he would continue to work on improving health facilities and services nationwide.

“As of now, 44 percent [of hospital beds] all over the country are occupied by COVID-19 cases,” he said. “What’s important is that our health care system should not collapse, that it should be able to care for all patients, especially those who are positive [for COVID-19]. That’s the most important thing right now while we are slowly opening the economy.”

In his speech, Go stressed the importance of Malasakit Centers in making health services and financial aid available to more people, particularly the poor.

The centers serve as one-stop shops, where people seeking help can do so through representatives of several government agencies.

“There’s no politics at a Malasakit Center,” Go said. “Inside the hospital are [representatives of] four government agencies — PhilHealth, DOH, PCSO, DSWD,” he said.

He was referring to the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., the Department of Health, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

At the opening, Go’s team provided meals to medical frontliners and patients at the hospital. The team also gave away some bicycles to help the frontliners travel to work given the limited public transportation.

In an ambush interview after the opening, Go said he had started to speed up the process of upgrading public hospitals by filing Senate Bill No. 1226, or the proposed DOH Hospital Bed Capacity and Service Capability Rationalization Act, which would authorize the Department of Health to increase the bed capacity and service capability of its hospitals and to allow it to promulgate evaluation and approval guidelines.

He also touched on the issue of slowly reopening the economy, saying that President Rodrigo Duterte would discuss it with his economic managers this week, particularly on how they would achieve a balance between the economy and health.

“The Department of Finance wants to slowly open up the economy because, according to reports, many Filipinos are going hungry because they have lost their jobs,” Go said.

Personally, he said he would rather prioritize the health of Filipinos.

“You can make money. But the money you make cannot buy life. A life lost is a life lost forever,” he said.

Meanwhile, Go urged government agencies, particularly PhilHealth, to continue pushing for reforms to eradicate systemic corruption and to improve public service delivery.

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