(FILE) INSIDE THE COVID WARD Health-care workers remain busy at a dedicated facility of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). —RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA, Philippines — A congresswoman on Sunday is pushing to increase the number of public hospitals in island towns following her bout with COVID-19.
Rep. Shernee Tan-Tambut of the Kusug Tausug partylist made this point after pointing out how few government hospitals there are in the country, with the majority of them only in densely populated districts.
“My mind goes back to Sulu with over 100 islands, where 8 of its 19 municipalities are island towns far from the provincial center of Jolo,” said Tan-Tambut in a Facebook post.
“How would it be for anyone living in any of these 8 towns to have symptoms of covid-19? Transport to Jolo takes several hours by speedboat or motorized banca,” she explained.
The lawmaker further continued that if a patient showed severe symptoms they are then rushed all the way to Zamboanga City for specialized treatment.
“That is for the patient with some money, the poor could barely afford transport to Jolo” said Tan-Tambut.
She said she realized this problem after her own battle with the virus, and recovering on Friday, Feb.4.
“It occurred to me then how utterly lonely it must be for those who catch this dreaded virus and live in remote places with little or no access to health services,” said the lawmaker.
“I believe many in the provinces have died of COVID-19 without even knowing that they had the disease because they had no access to health tests,” she added.
As of Feb. 6, the country currently has 3,609,567 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with deaths amounting to 38,675.
“If Allah’s Mercy will grant me another chance to be in Congress in July, I will file bills increasing the number of primary and secondary hospitals throughout the country, making sure that several of these new hospitals will be built in island-towns,” Tan-Tambut said.
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