More patients seek medical care in Aklan hospitals, says governor

Aklan Gov. Florencio Miraflores (Photo from the Facebook account of the Aklan provincial government)

More patients are seeking medical attention in Aklan’s municipal hospitals after efforts of its local government to improve health facilities in isolated areas.

Average occupancy in district and municipal hospitals rose from 49 percent in 2016 to 73 percent in June 2018, a statement from Gov. Florencio Miraflores on Saturday read.

This resulted in “gradual decongestion” of the provincial hospital in Kalibo.

“Huge investment was poured into our hospitals. We provided the needed manpower, equipment and infrastructure necessary to upgrade our hospitals,” Miraflores said.

He cited the P628 million budget in 2018 to fix the hospital system in the province, which he said was a 33 percent leap from the P423 million budget in 2016.

This led to the construction of a new three-storey wing and a dialysis center in a provincial hospital, the statement read.

Miraflores said medicines are also available for indigent patients in public hospitals of the Aklan.

“We expanded our consignment system for medicines to our peripheral hospitals,” he said. /atm