Sen. Manuel “Lito” Lapid. Screen grab / Senate PRIB file photo
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Lito Lapid has filed a bill to establish tertiary care hospitals in all regions in the country.
Lapid said the pandemic has served as an opportunity to see the lapses in the country’s healthcare system, noting that in the initial days of the pandemic, the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine was the sole confirmatory testing laboratory for the virus in the whole country.
“Layunin ng aking panukalang batas na mapatayuan ng de kalidad na tertiary hospital ang lahat ng rehiyon sa ating bansa para makatulong sa pagsisigurong may matatakbuhang ospital ang ating mga kababayan oras na magkasakit sila di lamang ng COVID 19 kung hindi maging anumang karamdaman,” Lapid said in a statement on Monday.
(The goal of this bill is to establish quality tertiary hospitals in all regions in the country to help and ensure that the citizens will have quick access to hospitals in times of need.)
Lapid’s bill seeks to provide that all regions will have their tertiary care hospitals within five years from its effectivity, with the top priority being given to regions with no regional hospital of whichever classification is lower than tertiary care.
Citing the 2019 Department of Health (DOH) Hospitals Profile, Lapid said the National Capital Region has the most number of tertiary care DOH hospitals with 16 followed by Regions I, II, and III which have three each.
The senator said Regions V, VI, VII, and XI have two each while Regions IV-A, VIII, IX, X, XII, and CAR have only one each. Region IV-B and XIII, meanwhile, do not have a level 3 hospital, he added.
“Layunin ko rin na tulungan sa pamamagitan ng panukalang batas na ito, ang ating mga kababayang may karamdaman para hindi na nila kailangan lumuwas pa sa Metro Manila o sa malalayong lugar para lang makatanggap ng serbisyo ng isang tertiary hospital,” Lapid said.
(Through this proposed measure, our countrymen no longer have to go to Metro Manila or other far areas just to receive services from a tertiary hospital.)
“Sa ganitong paraan, malaki ang mababawas sa gastusin ng mga Pilipino lalo ‘yung may mga iniindang sakit. Oras na magkaroon ng tertiary hospital sa bawat rehiyon, mas malaki rin ang pagkakataon na maagapan ang karamdaman ng ating mga kababayan dahil may agarang lunas na higit na malapit sa kanilang pamayanan,” he added.
(In this way, this will alleviate the Filipinos’ expenses, especially those with illnesses. This is the time to have tertiary hospitals in each region to give more chances of immediate response and access to medical services near their communities to aid the ailments.)
Once this measure becomes law, Lapid said the DOH must formulate a prioritization plan to implement it, subject to the following priority considerations:
- Regions which do not have a tertiary care hospitals;
- Regions with provinces with significant population but which are geographically isolated (e.g. island provinces);
- Regions with low population-to-tertiary care hospital ratio; and
- Regions with existing level 2 hospitals that could be considered for upgrading, modernization and conversion to a tertiary care hospital
Andy Hoo, INQUIRER.net trainee
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