The House Committee on Health approved on Wednesday the proposal to increase the bed capacity of the Capitol-owned Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City.
House Bill No. 4763, authored by Third District Rep. Jose Francisco Benitez, seeks to increase TLJPH’s bed capacity to 300 from the current 100.
It also called for an upgrade of
its services and facilities and hire additional medical personnel.
“The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for greater investments in our health care system. We thank the Committee on Health for approving this urgent measure,” Benitez said.
Implementing the proposed upgrading of the TLJPH, however, may take sometime as the measure okayed by the House still moves up to the Senate for deliberation and approval.
Although the hospital’s authorized capacity is only 100 beds, its occupancy in 2018 was 300 percent higher than what is allowed by the Department of Health, he noted.
During the same year, the number of in-patients reached 22,014 with 60 patients admitted every day, he added.
Each patient is confined for five days on the average, records showed.
“Clearly, the TLJPH urgently needs an augmentation in its facilities and personnel to meet the high demand for health care in Negros Occidental and prevent the unnecessary loss of life,” Benitez said in the explanatory note of the bill he filed on Sept. 23, 2019. – NLG
