Explanation of Vote 

House Bill 7751 – An Act Establishing Specialty Centers In Hospitals Under The Direct Supervision And Control Of The Department Of Health, And Appropriating Funds Therefor

By Deputy Speaker and Batangas Rep. Ralph G. Recto

8 May 2023

Mr. Speaker, my dear colleagues : 

We are approving this measure on the heels of the Secretary of Health’s dire warning that at present we lack 114,000 doctors and 127,000 nurses.

But we are not grappling with personnel shortage alone.

There is also a massive shortfall of facilities across the public health system. 

Pharmacies, which like prescriptions, need to be constantly filled. Requisitions for equipment and laboratories unacted upon for years. 

And the most disturbing symptom of this resource anemia: Beds shared by two patients, and halls converted into makeshift wards.

Nowhere is this congestion more jarring than in DOH-run medical centers in big urban centers.

If their intake of patients looks like a congested artery, it is because they are swamped with medical refugees referred by hospitals who cannot treat them.

This bill is the Rx to that problem.

It orders DOH to establish specialty centers in select hospitals under its direct supervision.

The designated hospitals will focus on 17 specialty disciplines including cancer care, cardiovascular care, lung, renal and kidney transplant, brain and spine care, trauma care, burn care, orthopedic care, physical rehabilitation medicine.

Also to be covered are infectious disease and tropical medicine, toxicology, mental health, geriatric care, neonatal care, dermatology care, ear, nose and throat care and eye care. 

So instead of regionalizing the Heart, Lung and Kidney Centers into standalone facilities, this bill prescribes the better approach which is, to borrow a medical term, graft these specialty units into existing medical centers.

But for this vision to be realized, then, like a doctor’s order, it must be funded.

The initial down payment should manifest itself in the 2024 national budget. Otherwise, the prose of this law would remain like jottings on a doctor’s prescription pad, ordered but not complied.

Dispersing these specialty centers would relieve “catchment medical centers” of congestion, and patients of additional financial burden.

For those from the provinces, the cost of seeking treatment in Manila, in the Heart or Lung Center, exponentially rises, the version of an elevated financial BP.

Money that should have been spent solely for the patient’s treatment is eaten up by fare, board and lodging of caregivers.

And if a hospital is far from families, the medical evacuees are denied of the constant care of a revolving set of caregivers, whose presence aids in healing.

Filipino families are already one sickness away from financial bankruptcy. 

And the debt hole is made deeper by the financial overhead cause by transient stay in Cebu, or Manila, for example.

Kaya naman 4 out of 10 Filipinos die unattended by a medical personnel – duktor man o nars.

Nabanggit ko po ‘yung Kidney Center. The data seven years ago was that 15,000 start dialysis yearly, or one every 30 minutes. 

The lowest estimate of people waiting for kidney transplant that I have read is about 7,000, which is equivalent to the capacity of 28 standing-room-only MRT coaches.

Sa cancer naman, it killed almost 60,000 Filipinos in 2021, or one every nine minutes.

To those seeking treatment, all roads must not lead to Manila. And the best pathways should not lead to the doors of private hospitals.

Base po kasi sa National Health Accounts, 42 centavos in every peso spent for health in 2021 came from out-of-pocket of individuals.

Bagama’t ang nahugot mula iba’t ibang government schemes ay 52 centavos for every 1 peso, di hamak na malaki pa rin ang galing sa butas na bulsa ng isang ordinaryong Filipino.

There is one big ancillary benefit in building this network of these hospital-attached specialty centers.

And this is our medical scholarship program under sa Doktor Para Sa Bayan Act.

It would in effect improve or create teaching hospitals at a time when more SUCs and private schools are offering MD courses.

The number of “Doktor Para Sa Bayan” scholars will be supersized to 3,600 in the 2023-2024 school year.

This is a 150% increase from the previous number of slots. We are opening 2,189 new slots.

And not only that, we are increasing the number of partner schools to 16 state universities and 16 private schools in 15 regions.

As we create these specialty centers, medical education will be its biggest dividend, under a treat-and-teach scheme.

Mr. Speaker, if there is one lesson the pandemic has taught, it is that health should never be again relegated to the fringes.

This bill arms us with the resilience and resistance to weather not only future epidemics, but to meet the requirements of a graying population.

As more of our citizens cross the senior line, like me who is one birthday candle away from dual citizenship, it is a demographic shift that creates medical needs that aging causes.

This bill future-proof us from the challenges this eventuality bring.

Let us pass this bill for the sake of, in the words of Humphrey, not only those who are in the sunset of life – the aged – but also for those in the dawn of life – the children –  and those in the shadows of life – the sick and the infirm.