Considering the medical needs of the children in the Visayas region, Cebu 2nd District Rep. Rodrigo Abellanosa has proposed the establishment of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) in Cebu City.
Under House Bill No. 7735, he cited the need for the government to ensure the accessibility of medical services and the availability of specialized healthcare to Filipino children.
“The PCMC sits at the heart of Quezon City, in an area accessible to children in need of medical attention coming from different areas of the Greater Manila Area. Sadly, however, those who reside farther south, such as Cebu, have very limited access to it, considering that we are archipelagic state and distance and transportation costs are very restrictive,” Abellanosa said in his bill’s explanatory note.
He noted that currently, the PCMC only has a 212-bed capacity which will not be able to respond to the heath care needs of the country’s 33 million youth and children.
According to him, he filed HB No. 7735 “in an effort to extend the PCMC’s reach and allow our children from the South access to the same state-of-the-art services and expertise offered by the latter without the burden of additional transportation costs to their parents.”
The proposed PCMC for Cebu, to be located in Cebu City shall be under the supervision of the Department of Health (DOH), the bill provides.
Abellanosa said the PCMC Cebu shall serve as a constituent specialty hospital of the PCMC and shall be administered by its existing Board of Trustees.
Under HB 7735, the PCMC Cebu shall have a bed capacity of at least 150.
The measure seeks P2 billion funding for the establishment, initial operation and maintenance of the PCMC Cebu. Thereafter, such amounts as may be necessary for its continued operation and maintenance shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act, it said.
The Secretary of Health, in consultation with the PCMC Board of Trustees, shall formulate the implementing rules and regulations of the proposed Act, the bill provides.