SEN. Christopher Lawrence 'Bong' Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, continues efforts to bolster the country's health sector through the establishment of Super Health Centers (SHCs) nationwide and continuing support for the Malasakit Centers program which he initiated.'As your chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, rest assured that I will push all the measures that will benefit the poor such as the establishment of specialty centers in the different regions. Let us also add more beneficiaries of the Super Health Centers and Malasakit Centers,' he added.Go then highlighted the different services offered in both Malasakit Centers and SHCs in an ambush interview after he personally joined in the celebration of Aurora Day in Baler on Sunday, February 19.The Malasakit Centers program is a brainchild of Go which he initiated in 2018.The lawmaker then successfully pushed for its institutionalization in 2019 under Republic Act 11463, which he principally authored and sponsored. The Act mandates all Department of Health-run hospitals, plus the Philippine General Hospital in Manila City, to establish their own Malasakit Centers.The Malasakit Center is a one-stop shop where particularly poor and indigent patients can conveniently avail of medical assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. To date, over seven million Filipinos have benefitted from the 154 Malasakit Centers established nationwide according to the Health department.In Baler, a Malasakit Center is open at the Aurora Memorial Hospital. It is the 72nd Malasakit Center which has been in operation since July 2, 2020.Go, likewise, supported the establishment of SHCs across the country, particularly in areas where basic health services are not easily accessible.SHCs are medium versions of polyclinics and are bigger than rural health units, which offer basic services such as database management, outpatient, birthing, isolation, isolation, diagnostic (laboratory: X-ray, ultrasound), pharmacy, and ambulatory surgical unit.Other available services are eye, ear, nose, and throat service; oncology centers; physical therapy and rehabilitation center; and telemedicine, where remote diagnosis and treatment of patients will be done.Through Go's efforts, sufficient funds had been allocated under the 2022 Health Facilities Enhancement Program for the construction of some 307 SHCs.On the same day, Go's team joined the blessing and inauguration of the Dipaculao SHC in Aurora.
