Bill on regional specialty health centers signed into law
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has signed into law a measure mandating specialty centers in every region to ensure accessible and affordable healthcare services for Filipinos.
Under the law, the Health department will set up specialty centers in regional and government-owned and -controlled hospitals.
The specialty centers will prioritize cancer, cardiovascular, lung, renal, brain and spine, trauma and burn care, as well kidney transplant.
They are also expected to provide “orthopedic care, physical rehabilitation medicine, infectious disease and tropical medicine, toxicology, mental health, geriatric, neonatal, dermatology, eye, ear, nose and throat care.
The Department of Health (DoH) will categorize the specialty centers as National Specialty Centers, Advanced Comprehensive Specialty Centers and Basic Comprehensive Specialty Centers pursuant to the Philippine Health Facility Development Plan.
House health committee Chairman and Batanes Rep. Ciriaco Gato, Jr. welcomed the bill’s enactment, saying he was elated by the inclusion of ear, nose, and throat (ENT) centers in the law.
“We fought tooth and nail for the inclusion of ENT centers in this act,” he said in a statement. “As an ENT surgeon, I have seen how a simple ear infection resulting from minor issues can escalate into something serious due to lack of accessible specialized care.”
The presidential palace did not immediately reply to media questions seeking clarification on whether the regional centers will have a budget under the 2024 national budget.
The Health department must release the rules implementing the law within 60 days.
The palace in July issued a memo adopting the Philippine Health Facility Development Plan 2020-2040, the country’s overall strategy for infrastructure and medical investments.
The order tasks DoH, the Department of Trade and Industry and Board of Investments to create policies that will encourage both domestic and international enterprises to invest in health facilities.
Limited frontline health facilities remain a challenge, according to the plan, noting that health stations, rural health units and health centers are “supposedly the entry points of individuals, families and communities into health system practice.”
“In practice, however, patients go directly to hospitals and other specialized clinics, resulting in large health system inefficiencies.”
All villages in the Philippines should have at least one health station or village health station, according to the plan. While the number of village health stations had doubled to about 22,000 in 2019 from 11,000 in 1990, only half of the country’s villages had at least one health station.
The plan also noted that while the number of hospital beds has increased over the years, it has not kept pace with the fast-growing population. The bed to population ratio of 1.2 beds per 1,000 population is comparable to those of the poorest countries in the world. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
