Go wants PH ‘super’ health centers
SEN. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, gave his assurances that many hospital bills will be tackled in the coming weeks.
The Senate had approved on third and final reading 15 local hospital bills sponsored by Go shortly before Congress adjourned from February 5 to May 22.
“There are more health-related bills. We will be hearing more next week such as the local health bills. The others are new [local government unit and Department of Health-run] hospitals that the House is pushing; we will take this up in the Senate,” Go said on Tuesday.
“In the past budget deliberations, I have pushed for the Super Health Centers. It is bigger than the rural health units, about 500 squaremeter building…this is for the areas without provincial hospitals,” he added.
The lawmaker noted that the government currently has nearly P3.6 billion available funds in the 2022 Health Facilities Enhancement Program to construct 305 Super Health Centers.
To expand access to affordable and comprehensive medical care, a Super Health Center will be constructed in every region across the country.
The center will offer various services, including laboratory and diagnostic care, pharmaceutical care, birthing units, outpatient services, vaccination services and dental services.
Go also reiterated his appeal for the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 2155, a measure he had filed for the establishment of the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines (VIP).
The goal of the VIP is to develop vaccines against life-threatening viruses. It will serve as the principal laboratory of the country in providing virology laboratory investigations, research, and technical coordination of the entire network of virology laboratories nationwide.
“We have to be ready as we cannot tell if this is the last pandemic in our lifetime. It is better that we are prepared. It is also better if we can have our own vaccine so we do not have to depend on other countries. It is better if we are always ready,” Go said.
The senator likewise reiterated his call to the Senate to pass SB 2505, which will create the Philippine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The bill is the consolidated version of a bill he authored and filed in 2021.
The CDC will be primarily responsible for protecting Filipinos from health threats. To accomplish this, the proposed Center will detect and respond to new and emerging health threats, conduct scientific research and communicate critical health information to the public.
“I will not stop from fighting for these laws, especially that these will improve our health care system. The more we should invest now for our health care. Let us not wait for another occurrence where we were taken by surprise by Covid-19. We were caught unaware and we were not ready for it,” Go added.
SB 2155 is currently pending in the Committee on Science and Technology, while SB 2505 is set for plenary deliberations.