THE government has established a total of 131 specialty centers across the Philippines since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in 2022.
In a video message, Marcos said the specialty centers were established in compliance with Republic Act 11959, or the Regional Specialty Centers Act, which he signed into law in August 2023.
The law tasks the Department of Health (DOH) to set up specialty centers in its hospitals in every region and in state-controlled specialty hospitals, prioritizing cancer, cardiovascular, lung, renal and kidney transplant, brain and spine, trauma and burn care.
The President said under the Doctors to the Barangays program, 91 percent of municipalities have been deployed with medical doctors.
For 2024, Marcos said the National Government allotted P11.12 billion for the establishment of specialty centers.
“Ang programang ito ay in-expand to 204 out of 218 municipalities naman. Ang katumbas niyan ay 91 percent na ng municipalities ay masasabi nating may nag-aalaga na doctor,” Marcos said.
(This program has been expanded to 204 out of 218 municipalities. The equivalent of that is that 91 percent of the municipalities already have a doctor.)
“Kaya’t napaka importante nito. Patuloy pa itong programang ito para naman masabi natin na talaga nating binabantayan ang kalusugan ng ating mga mamamayan,” he added.
(This program is very important. It is ongoing so that we can say that we are really looking after the health of our citizens.) (TPM/SunStar Philippines)