Marcos Jr. wants to overhaul healthcare system

Ferdinand Marcos Jr.(Photo from Lakas-CMD)

MANILA, Philippines — If elected as president, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will overhaul the country’s healthcare system.

In an interview aired on state-run media PTV on Saturday, Marcos was asked if he would overhaul the healthcare system should he win the presidential race.

“Yes, absolutely,” he answered. “In the insurance issue, PhilHealth [Philippine Health Insurance Corp.], so many problems came out. They saw so many problems. There’s no direction as of now because everything is new. How do we handle the pandemic? Everything is new,” Marcos said, speaking in a mix of Filipino and English.

He said he was surprised to learn that no big government hospital had been built since 1985. Hence, pushing to create more health facilities.

“I have been to several areas where they said they had no tertiary care hospitals,” he said. “So we really need to have hospitals built.”

Marcos noted that regional health units (RHUs) could help accommodate patients instead of them going directly to big hospitals.

“Now, if we are not under a pandemic, our usual experience with the local government is that patients can be treated in RHUs,” he said.

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