Bong Go eyes more super health centers

SEN. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go has pushed for the establishment of more super health centers (SHCs) nationwide as he delivered aid to typhoon victims in Iloilo.

The senator on Friday, November 11, inspected a proposed SHC site in Anilao, Iloilo, as he sought for more government programs to strengthen the health sector.

He noted that the SHC is a “medium version of a polyclinic yet an improved version of the rural health unit.”

“Let us bring [needed health] services closer to the poor,” Go said in Filipino.

“I’d like to have more hospitals and Super Health Centers because we don’t know if this will be the case. I hope that this [coronavirus disease 2019] will be the last pandemic that will come in our lives. It would be better if we are ready.”

Go and his team provided aid to 2,120 victims of Typhoon “Agaton.” He led the distribution of grocery packs, vitamins, masks, meals and shirts.

Meanwhile, select beneficiaries also received bicycles, cellular phones, shoes, and balls for basketball and volleyball.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development also extended financial assistance to the affected residents.

The SHC provides the following services: database management, outpatient, birthing, isolation, diagnostic (laboratory: X-ray, ultrasound), pharmacy, and ambulatory surgical unit.

It also offers the following: eye, ear, nose, and throat service; oncology centers; physical therapy and rehabilitation center; and telemedicine, where remote diagnosis and treatment of patients will be done.

Go’s office said that the senator and Anilao Mayor Lee Anne Debuque on Friday inspected the SHC building under construction in Anilao.

Iloilo will have eight SHCs, and Anilao “was among those chosen to have a Super Health Center,” said Go, who is also the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography.

He stressed the importance of expanding and improving the country’s health care system to ensure that the most marginalized sectors have convenient access to the medical services they need.

Go said that the government aims to construct 307 SHCs nationwide this year. The Department of Health plans to construct at least 320 more SHCs in 2023.

About P3.6 billion has been allocated under the 2022 Health Facilities Enhancement Program to build SHCs.

Aside from Anilao, there will also be SHCs in Iloilo City, and the towns of Carles, Igbaras, Maasin, Pavia, Sara and San Joaquin.

Go urged those with health concerns to seek the services of the Malasakit Centers in the province should they need assistance with their hospital bills.

He initiated the Malasakit Centers program in 2018 to ensure that poor Filipinos have immediate access to the government’s medical assistance programs.

The operation of Malasakit Center was institutionalized under Republic Act 11463, which Go principally authored. There are now 152 centers nationwide.