Super health center to rise in Biliran
SEN. Christopher “Bong” Go commended the Department of Health (DoH) and the local government of Biliran, including Biliran town Mayor Myra Cabrales and Rep. Gerry Boy Espina, for their successful Super Health Center (SHC) groundbreaking on Tuesday.
Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, underscored the pivotal function that SHCs can fulfill in alleviating the strain on hospitals, enabling the early detection of diseases, and delivering vital health care services like primary care and medical consultations to the local community.
These SHCs provide services such as database management, outpatient care, birthing facilities, isolation units, diagnostic services (including laboratory, X-ray, and ultrasound), pharmacies, and ambulatory surgical units. Additional services include eye, ear, nose, and throat (EENT) care; oncology centers; physical therapy and rehabilitation centers; as well as telemedicine for remote diagnosis and treatment.
Go also stressed that the aim is to establish SHCs in strategic locations as identified by DoH, to support remote communities and guarantee broader accessibility to essential health care services for Filipinos.
“There were 307 Super Health Centers funded in 2022 and 322 Super Health Centers in 2023 in the entire Philippines. In going around the country, I have seen poor places that do not have their own health centers. Pregnant women deliver their infants in tricycles or jeepneys while on their way to a faraway hospital. Now, you no longer need to go to a hospital, you can have your medical treatment here,” Go said in Filipino.
These centers can also be used as satellite vaccination sites for those
Filipinos who live far from the urban centers.
The DoH, as the lead implementing agency, identifies the strategic areas where they will be constructed.
Apart from Biliran town, the senator also supported the construction of another Super Health Center in Naval in the same province.
Furthermore, the senator also encouraged individuals with health concerns to make use of the medical assistance programs accessible at the Malasakit Center situated in Biliran Provincial Hospital.
The Malasakit Centers serve as one-stop shops designed to assist particularly poor and indigent patients in minimizing their medical costs to the lowest feasible level through collaboration with various agencies offering medical assistance programs.
This initiative was institutionalized under Republic Act (RA) 11463, a law principally authored and sponsored by Go in the Senate. Presently, there are 159 Malasakit Centers spread across the country, and they have collectively provided support to more than seven million Filipinos, as reported by the Department of Health (DoH).
Moreover, echoing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s priority of bringing specialized medical services closer to other parts of the country, Go highlighted that he has principally sponsored and is one of the authors of the Regional Specialty Centers Act which was recently enacted into law.
The law mandates the establishment of Regional Specialty Centers within existing DoH regional hospitals. It stands as a testament to the commitment of the government to uplift the nation’s health infrastructure and bring actual medical services closer to the Filipino people.