Bong Go extends aid to Laguna indigents
SEN. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go has underscored that health should remain the utmost priority of Filipinos as he highlighted the services of Malasakit Centers for poor and indigent patients.
In his video message during distribution activities mounted by his team in Pila, San Pablo City and Sta. Cruz, all in Laguna, on Monday, November 21, Go, as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, reassured that there are two Malasakit Centers in the province should the residents need government assistance for their medical-related expenses.
The Malasakit Centers program was initiated by Go in 2018 after he witnessed the struggles of financially incapacitated Filipinos to get the medical attention they need.
To make certain that medical assistance programs of concerned agencies are conveniently accessible, the program was later institutionalized under Republic Act 11463, which the senator principally authored and sponsored in the Senate.
“To date, we have 52 Malasakit Centers nationwide. Do not be afraid to go to the hospital even if you do not have money. The Malasakit Center houses in an office inside the hospital the agencies of the government that will help you with your hospital expenses,” Go said.
In the province of Laguna, Malasakit Centers are located at Laguna Medical Center in Sta. Cruz and San Pablo City General Hospital.
Apart from the Malasakit Centers, Go said he is also committed to support construction of Super Health Centers in the province, particularly in the cities of Biñan, Cabuyao, Calamba and Sta. Rosa; and the towns of Alaminos and Mabitac.
Echoing the Department of Health’s statement, he expressed his confidence that these Super Health Centers would be able to significantly reduce occupancy rates in hospitals.
Services in the Super Health Centers will include database management, outpatient, birthing, isolation, isolation, diagnostic (laboratory: X-ray, ultrasound), pharmacy, and ambulatory surgical unit.
Other available services are 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.
At the Pila municipal gymnasium, San Pablo Central School in San Pablo City and Laguna provincial capitol in Sta. Cruz, Go’s team assisted 980 struggling residents.
The team distributed snacks, masks, and shirts to the residents and provided a bicycle, a cellular phone, shoes, and balls for basketball and volleyball to select individuals.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development extended financial assistance to the residents.
Go, also vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, supported the construction of multipurpose buildings in Cavinti, Liliw, Lumban, Majayjay, Pagsanjan, Pila, Sta. Cruz and Sta. Maria; construction of slaughterhouses in Mabitac, Nagcarlan and Pagsanjan; and construction of public markets in Liliw, Nagcarlan, Pagsanjan and Rizal.
Other projects he supported are the construction of a farm-to-market road and a multipurpose covered court in Paete, construction of a drainage canal in Cabuyao City, and repair of the primary road inside Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa City, and installation of street lights in Lumban and Magdalena.
Go, an adopted son of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), also had his team mount a relief activity in Pakil last November 18.