Senator Christopher “Bong” Go yesterday called for the improvement of the country’s public hospitals, proposing the establishment of a “super hospital” in every region in the country.
“Let us invest in our hospitals. I plan to have another hospital similar to Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) and Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in every region,” said Go.
“We can have a complete supercenter like a mega-regional hospital in each region. For example, in Metro Manila, there’s PGH complete with all the needed facilities,” he said.
He also emphasized the need for the government to continue investing more in the country’s healthcare system and learn its lessons from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“The more we invest in our health care system, the better. We should be proactive. let us not be complacent. When it happened to us, we were caught unprepared,” Go said.
Go also underscored the importance of providing sufficient funds for the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) given its crucial role in addressing the pandemic.
RITM is the main research arm of the Department of Health for the prevention and control of infectious and tropical diseases in the Philippines.
It was the first, and for a time, the sole COVID-19 testing facility in the country. Thus, the lawmaker shared how he fought for the budget of the institute during the past deliberations in the Senate.
Go said the Senate will further study House Bill 10392, which mandates local government units to earmark at least 15 percent of their share in national taxes for health services.