Go bats for more Super Health Centers in provinces
SEN. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go has raised the importance of Super Health Centers (SHCs) in remote areas, saying it will help those living far from cities to gain access to better medical services.
The senator visited Escalante City in Negros Occidental last May 27 to witness the groundbreaking of an SHC.
He said SHCs will boost the city’s health care development by improving access to basic medical services for its residents.
In his speech, Go said residents IN FAR-flUNG AREAS DO NOT NEED TO travel to the cities anymore to seek medical help if there are SHCs in their communities.
The senator, who heads the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, has pushed for the creation of more SHCs nationwide.
The SHCs will provide basic medical services, such as database management, outpatient care, birthing, isolation, diagnostics (laboratory: X-ray, ultrasound), pharmacy, and ambulatory surgical units.
They will also offer eye, ear, nose, and throat care; oncology services; physical therapy and rehabilitation; and telemedicine, where remote diagnosis and treatment of patients will be done.
“This [SHC] is for our fellowmen in far-flung areas. this will be helpful particularly to the poor,” Go said in Filipino.
He said 307 SHCs were constructed in 2022 “to bring government medical services to the people.” This number will grow to 322 SHCs this year.
The Department of Health (DoH), as the lead implementing agency, identifies the strategic areas where these centers will be constructed.
“With the help of my colleagues in Congress and the DoH and the local government, there will be over 20 super health center here in Negros Occidental,” Go said.
In Negros Occidental, the DoH has identified several areas where shcs will be established, including the cities of Bacolod, Bago, Cadiz, Himamaylan, San Carlos, Talisay and the town of Cauayan.
Go was also the main proponent of Malasakit Centers, where poor patients can seek help for their medical needs.
In Bacolod City, there is a Malasakit Center at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital.