Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go has thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for signing his sponsored bills, seeking to upgrade three local hospitals.
“We are grateful to President Duterte for immediately signing these bills into law. With the help of my colleagues in Congress, we intend to upgrade the quality of our public hospitals, especially those in the provinces,” the senator said.
Signed into law were House Bill (HB) 1477, which will increase the bed capacity of the Caraga Regional Hospital (CRH) in Surigao City, Surigao del Norte from 150 to 500 beds (Republic Act (or RA) 11472); HB 1799, which will upgrade the Talisay District Hospital (TDH) in Talisay City, Cebu into a Medical Centre to be known as the Cebu South Medical Centre (RA 11473); and HB 5871, which will upgrade the Maria L Eleazar District Hospital (MLEDH) in Tagkawayan, Quezon into a Level 3 general hospital to be known as the Maria L Eleazar General Hospital (RA 11474).
The newly enacted measures are expected to improve the delivery of quality medical and healthcare services.
For the CRH in Surigao City, its average bed occupancy rate from 2017 to 2018 was at 207.37%, way above the national standard of 85%. Meanwhile, the TDH in Talisay City is the only hospital run by the Department of Health in southern Cebu that also serves patients coming from neighbouring Negros Oriental, Bohol and Siquijor provinces.
The MLEDH in Quezon province is the only public hospital located at the border of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon) and Bicol regions.
“For every health-related bill that we have passed into law, we save the lives of our countrymen. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, we will continue to work in order to ensure the improvement of the medical services of the government anywhere in the country especially during this critical time,” Go said.
He added that the process of upgrading healthcare facilities must be streamlined and made easier to holistically improve the country’s healthcare system. “We realise the lack of medical facilities and hospitals. That is why it is important for the legislative and the executive branches to partner in improving the health facilities across the country,” the senator said.
Late last year, Go filed Senate Bill 1226, or the proposed “Department of Health Hospital Bed Capacity and Service Capability Rationalisation Act,” in recognition of the need to provide the government a faster approach in upgrading services in
public hospitals.
President Rodrigo Duterte reads a document during a meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
