Angara: COVID cases surge ‘rude awakening’ to strengthen healthcare system

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Sonny Angara. Senate PRIB file photo / Joseph Vidal

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Sonny Angara said it is now high time to strengthen the country’s health system as he expressed alarm over reports of patients being turned away by hospitals during this time of pandemic.

Angara said it was “alarming” to hear reports of patients being turned away by hospitals that were already full due to rising cases of COVID-19

“The current surge in cases of COVID-19 and its new variants has given us a rude awakening as to how much more we have to go to strengthen our health system,” Angara said in a statement Wednesday.

“We must start to ramp up the capacities of our hospitals so that every Filipino who needs medical attention will get the care they deserve,” he added.

As chairman of the Senate committee on finance, Angara noted his consistent support for the country’s health system through budgetary interventions and filing of several measures like Senate Bill 1850 or the proposed Healthcare Facility Augmentation Act.

The bill seeks to establish hospitals in every state university and college (SUC) offering a medical degree and each hospital would have a bed capacity of not less than 50 beds.

These hospitals would also serve as the training ground for medical students of the SUCs, Angara said.

The senator noted a recent study by the University of the Philippines indicating that the country has only an average of 3.7 doctors for every 10,000 members of the population.

This, he said, is way below the recommended 10 doctors for every 10,000 population and only the National Capital Region (NCR) was able to meet this ratio.

Angara said the same study showed that there are only 6.1 beds for every 10,000 Filipinos on average with the NCR again having the highest at 13.5. For Region IV-B, he said, the ratio is 1 hospital bed per 10,000 population.

“Right now even the biggest of hospitals in Metro Manila are at full capacity, and the number of active cases of COVID-19 continues to go up. We need more hospitals and doctors at the soonest possible time,” Angara said.

Other measures he filed seek to establish satellite hospitals or specialized units and funding for public medical schools in every region of the country.

JPV