More health services at lesser expenses.
Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado of the 2nd District said this was foremost in his mind when he filed Monday House Bill 5260 seeking to establish heart centers in the Visayas and Mindanao.
The solon said this way, patients from the south need not spend a fortune in passage, food and accommodations for complicated heart surgeries on top of actual medical and other incidental hospital expenses.
Aumentado proposes the additional heart centers to be established in Bohol for the Visayas, and Davao City for Mindanao.
The bill proposes to amend Sections 1 and 8 of Presidential Decree 673 that created the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) for Asia in Metro Manila.
In his explanatory note, the solon said establishing the branches will improve the much need medical services across and around the country – closer to the people. Transportation, medical supplies and equipment will no longer be an issue, he emphasized.
He said the PHC is a specialty hospital and research center with the most modern facilities and state-of-the-art equipment for heart and related diseases. It has earned the reputation of one of the best congenital heart surgery center not only in the Philippines but in the ASEAN region as well.
The expansion has surfaced as a major need after the Filipino population breached the 107 billion mark – and still counting. (June S. Blanco)