79th Malasakit Center opens in Laguna

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Bong Go, chair of the committee on health and demography, attended the “virtual” launch of the country’s 79th Malasakit Center at the Laguna Medical Center in Santa Cruz. The Malasakit Center is the 40th in Luzon and sixth in Calabarzon.

“This is for the Filipinos, especially for the poor vulnerable sectors needing medical assistance. We will make sure they are the priority,” Go said.

Malasakit Centers are one-stop shops that host concerned government agencies with programs that provide financial and medical assistance to Filipino patients, particularly the poor and indigent. These agencies are the Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

With the enactment of Republic Act 11463, otherwise known as the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019, all hospitals run by the DOH all over the country and the Philippine General Hospital in Manila are now mandated to establish their own Malasakit Centers.

Hospitals run by local government units and other public hospitals may also establish their own Malasakit Centers provided that they meet a standard set of criteria and guarantee the availability of funds for the operation of their centers, including its maintenance, personnel and staff training, among others.

In his speech, the senator also tackled the new face mask distribution program of the government to strengthen the mask-wearing policy in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.