Gov’t to build ‘Malasakit Center’ 

in 2 public hospitals in Bohol

TAGBILARAN CITY, February 01 (PIA)--Soon, indigent patients in public hospitals around Bohol will no longer have to go to different government agencies to process financial assistance with the establishment of two ‘Malasakit Centers’ in the province this year.

The facility will be built at the Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital (GCGMH) in Tagbilaran City and at the Don Emilio Del Valle Memorial Hospital in Ubay.

A ‘Malasakit Center’ is a one-stop shop staffed by representatives from the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

This is part of the Duterte administration’s health support initiative and is expected to be built in various government-run hospitals in the region.

According to GCGMH medical director Dr. Mutya Macuno, they are expecting to have a “Malasakit Center” built inside the health facility within the first half of the year.

Macuno said, a Malasakit Center is now being built at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu and another will be built in Tagbilaran and Ubay next.

The same facility is also set to be built inside the Eversely Child’s Sanitarium and General Hospital, Saint Anthony Mother and Child Hospital, and Talisay District Hospital.

Last year, a memorandum of agreement was signed among Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas and various government agencies for the construction of ‘Malasakit Centers’ in Cebu and Bohol as pilot regions for the program.

Under the MOA, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas will facilitate the renovation of areas intended for the ‘Malasakit Center’ within public hospitals, while the DOH will act as the central coordinating body of the center’s services.

The DSWD will assign social workers to each center to provide appropriate assistance to beneficiaries of the Lingap sa Masa program of the government. The social workers will also conduct the assessment of each patient seeking assistance.

The PhilHealth will also assign personnel to the center to provide immediate assistance to its members. Under the program, the benefits from PhilHealth shall be the first in the order of preference of medical or financial assistance among the agencies involved.

While the PCSO will assign personnel to provide appropriate assistance to indigent and poor patients. (ecb/PIA7-Bohol)