300 super health centers non-operational; DOH activates citizens hotline—Herbosa
THE administration’s fact-finding body, the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), will step in and help investigate so-called “ghost” or non-operational super health centers (SHCs) across the country, Health Secretary Ted Herbosa on Friday said.
Herbosa told the ICI yesterday that of the 878 SHCs funded under the Health Facility Enhancement Program from 2021 to date, some 300 are non-operational.
Herbosa said 365 are under various stages of construction while 196 are operational and 17 are partially operational.
The DOH said the figures are subject to further validation and investigation, in coordination with the ICI.
“What I promised ICI is that I will do an investigation and case buildup. If we have a case and we think someone is criminally or administratively liable, I will submit it,” Herbosa said.
While the DOH continues the case building for the non-operational SHCs, the ICI will support the investigations, Herbosa added.
The department will also activate its Citizens Participatory Audit to allow the public to report issues concerning the SHCs.
Since the investigation was made public, the department has received several reports from citizens regarding facilities that remain idle or unfinished.
Earlier this week, Herbosa investigated the Concepcion Dos SHC in Marikina and the Antipolo SHC.
DOH data showed that the Concepcion Dos SHC in Marikina was originally funded with P21.5 million under Phase 1 of the national SHC program but it remains unfinished and overgrown with weeds.
Initially planned as a two-story primary care facility, the project was redesigned by the local government into a four-story structure with a rooftop, raising the total cost to P201 million.
Meanwhile, the Antipolo City Government had requested and received about P11.4 million in funding for the Antipolo SHC, divided into two phases – P6.4 million for Phase 1, completed in October 2023, and P4.9 million for Phase 2, completed in July 2024.
The DOH also delivered P7 million worth of medical equipment to the Antipolo local government in 2022 and 2023 to help make the facility operational.
“It is the LGU that will make sure that (thr SHC) is connected to the electricals and to the water lines and who will also hire the personnel—the doctor, the nurse, the midwife, and the pharmacist,” Herbosa said.
