• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Senate Deputy Majority Leader JV Ejercito has vowed to help improve the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital (TLJPH) in Silay City, Negros Occidental and other provincial and local hospitals while pushing for increased funding for zero-balance billing and better health care coverage under the Universal Health Care (UHC) program.
Ejercito, who visited the TLJPH on Sunday, Aug, 23 to determine its needs and requirements, said health care will remain among his priorities in the remaining two years of his term in the Senate.
He said he wants to increase the subsidy for PhilHealth to provide patients with better coverage, improved benefit packages, and expanded access to healthcare services.
The senator also pushed for a bigger budget for the government’s zero-balance billing program, which allows indigent patients, persons with disabilities, and senior citizens to avail themselves of free hospitalization in Department of Health (DOH) hospitals.
Ejercito, chairperson of the Senate committee on finance, said the next step is to ensure that more primary and secondary hospitals, including provincial and local government-run hospitals, receive adequate support.
“DOH or apex hospitals are already well-funded so now, we have to focus more on our primary and secondary hospitals,” he said.
The senator noted that strengthening provincial hospitals would help decongest major or apex hospitals, allowing them to focus on more complicated illnesses and specialized cases.
Ejercito, who authored the UHC Law in 2019, stressed that the UHC program cannot be fully realized unless health care facilities are capable of providing quality and accessible services.
“How can you offer universal health care if your health care facilities are not at par?” he said.
The senator said one of the major features of UHC is the improvement of the health care service delivery network, including hospitals and other medical facilities.
During his visit to TLJPH, Ejercito asked hospital officials for their “wish list” of equipment and facilities needed to improve services and support the hospital’s efforts to further enhance its capabilities.
“I am not a magician, but we will try to slowly complete the needed equipment so that the services of provincial hospitals, like TLJPH and other hospitals in Negros, will improve,” he said.
He said the TLJPH and other hospitals in the province can expect assistance for facilities and equipment, particularly those needed to improve their capacity to treat patients.
Ejercito said that with proper equipment and facilities, provincial hospitals could handle surgeries and other ailments that would otherwise require patients to be referred to major hospitals.
“Dapat kaya na dito with proper equipment,” he said, adding that this would allow apex hospitals to concentrate on more complicated diseases.
The senator acknowledged the challenges faced by provincial and local governments in operating hospitals, describing hospital management as expensive and complicated.
He said this is why the national government and lawmakers should step in to provide assistance to local health facilities.
“We are here to help,” Ejercito said.
He added that he has visited several provincial hospitals across the country and has seen varying conditions and levels of service, further strengthening his resolve to push for increased government spending on health care.
Apart from improving health facilities and increasing the budget for zero-balance billing, Ejercito said he also intends to continue supporting the implementation and improvement of the UHC Law as well as other measures related to the sugar industry, particularly the Sugar Industry Development Act.
He said strengthening provincial and local hospitals such as TLJPH is essential to building a more effective health care system where patients can receive appropriate treatment closer to their communities while reducing congestion in major government hospitals. | GPB
