151st Malasakit Center opens; better health care access hailed

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Bong Go hailed the Duterte administration’s efforts to strengthen access to affordable and comprehensive health care during the launch of the country’s 151st Malasakit Center at the Quirino Provincial Medical Center (QPMC) in Cabarroguis town on Wednesday.

The QPMC is the first hospital in Quirino and the sixth in the Cagayan Valley Region to open a Malasakit Center. The 150th Malasakit Center was launched the previous day, March 1, in Batanes General Hospital in Basco.

Other Malasakit Centers in Region 2 are located in Cagayan Valley Medical Center in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan; Region II Trauma and Medical Center in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya; and Faustino N. Dy Sr. Memorial Hospital in Ilagan City and Southern Isabela Medical Center in Santiago City, both in Isabela.

The Malasakit Center is a one-stop shop which hosts the government agencies that offer medical assistance to particularly poor and indigent patients. The agencies include the Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

In a speech at the ceremony, Go lamented that many Filipinos are forced to delay or avoid medical care due to financial constraints. He praised the enormous progress made under President Duterte’s leadership to eliminate barriers to health care, especially among low-income Filipinos in vulnerable rural and urban communities.

“I’m gladdened by the opening of Malasakit Center in Quirino. Two years since the pandemic dealt hardship and sacrifice, I’m thankful President Duterte signed the law and showed political will to ease our plight,” said the lawmaker in Filipino.

“We promised the Malasakit Center to you. Although our capacity to help will lessen as the President wraps up his term, I will still strive to serve the country,” he pledged.

As chair of the Senate committee on health, Go called on government-run hospitals and the health sector to prioritize the care of their poor and elderly patients. He likewise called on the public to continue following the health and safety protocols against COVID-19 to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed.