Marcos administration looking for more sites for specialty hospitals

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said his administration is looking for more sites for specialty hospitals that can address the healthcare needs of residents of far-flung areas.

Marcos said these specialty hospitals should be located in provinces, not only in Metro Manila.

“What we agreed on is that, instead of building a new hospital, is to create extension hospitals so that they will have some a specialty area with some beds,” he said in Filipino.

“That’s our plan, and we are now identifying the areas. We are looking back at our experience during the pandemic — where the difficulties were. The patients are too far away [from hospitals]. We need to bring the hospitals to those areas.”

Marcos made those remarks in his speech at the groundbreaking of the St. Bernadette Children and Maternity Hospital in Barangay Gaya-Gaya in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

The level-1 hospital will be equipped with 65 hospital beds, including important areas such as an operating room, a recovery room, maternity and isolation facilities, a clinical laboratory, an imaging section, and a pharmacy.

“I encourage the private sector and the medical community to support the medical programs of the government, such as in the field of medical services and financing of health infrastructure, especially in far-flung and poor communities,” Marcos said in his speech.

“We are united in the belief that it is the obligation of the government to take care of the health of its citizens so that they can support themselves and their families and be active in running the economy,” he added.

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