81st Malasakit Center opens in Apayao
SEN. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go on Friday attended the virtual launch of the country’s 81st Malasakit Center at the Far North Luzon General Hospital and Training Center in Luna, Apayao.
It is the second Malasakit Center in the Cordillera Administrative Region and 41st in Luzon.
“This Malasakit Center in Apayao is the 81st Malasakit Center in the country and this is now a law. As I have promised then, you now have a Malasakit Center in your place,” Go said to residents of Apayao in his speech delivered through a videoconferencing platform.
The Malasakit Center is a onestop shop where Filipinos can avail of financial and medical assistance from four agencies of the government: Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and Philippine Health Insurance Corp.
“With the unified office, the system of providing assistance to patients is streamlined. Patients or their representatives need to only fill up the Malasakit Form
for said assistance to be processed quickly. The center also prioritizes senior citizens and persons with disability, and targets a zerobalance payment for all qualified patients,” said Go, chairman of the Senate health and demography committee.
The senator also said that the Malasakit Center was envisioned after his experience when he was assistant to the then mayor of Davao City, President Rodrigo Duterte.
‘When I was working with then Mayor Duterte, now President
Duterte, at the City Hall, many patients came to us for assistance. Not all were residents of Davao City. They came to us for help because they knew that Davao City has more funds and it is a big city,” Go said.