One thing good going in our country today is the mushrooming of government and privately-owned-and-operated hospitals.
One such hospital was inspected by President Rodrigo Duterte in San Fernando Pampanga, days ago. The hospital, which is the first of its kind is for overseas Filipino workers and members of their families. Clearly, this can be considered another legacy of the Duterte administration.
Observant Dabawenyos might also notice that in Davao City where the iconic Southern Philippine Medical Center is located, many new hospitals are rising. These include the two newly-opened private hospitals near the SM Malls in Ecoland and Lanang. Other hospitals are located in Tibungco, Matina and in the third congressional district. In addition, the Davao City Council has recently approved a city hospital inside the premises of the University of the Philippines-Mindanao in Mintal.
Senator Cristopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, himself the author of more than 150 Malasakit Centers all over the country said that the OFW Hospital in Pampanga demonstrates the government’s commitment to improving the country’s health care system and promoting the welfare of Filipino migrant workers and their families.
Go, chairman of the Senate committee on health and demography, said that “with the help of the OFW hospital we can compensate for the OFW’s sacrifices by means of better service for them and their dependents.”
Secretary Silvestre Bello III of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), one of the initiators of the hospital in Pampanga, said he hopes the administration to follow the Duterte government will also endeavor to establish OFW hospitals in the Visayas and Mindanao.
This is a challenge that can easily be accepted by Senator Go, who has authored the Malasakit Center Act which establishes a one-stop-shop in all hospitals run by the Department of Health where poor and indigent patients can conveniently avail themselves of medical assistance from the government.
