Quezon City 2nd District Rep. Precious Hipolito Castelo is expecting that P1.56 billion in additional funding given to four government hospitals in Quezon City will translate to treatment of more patients and expanded health care services in the National Capital Region (NCR) and neighbouring areas and provinces.
The vice chairperson of the House Committee on Metro Manila Development disclosed that this year, four specialty hospitals in Quezon City--Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC), and Philippine Heart Center will receive P1.56 billion in additional funds.
“More funding means the hospitals can accommodate and treat more patients from Quezon City and Metro Manila, and from nearby provinces and even other parts of the country as well,” she said in a statement.
Of the four hospitals, the PCMC will get the biggest chunk, receiving P736 million in additional funds. With this, its funding increased to P1.934 billion this year from last year’s P1.198 billion.
"NKTI will receive P372 million in additional subsidy, from P908 million to P1.28 billion; while the Heart Center will have P364 million more, from P1.432 billion to P1.796 billion,” Castelo noted.
According to her, this year, Lung Center’s outlay increased to P505 million from P417 million last year after receiving an additional subsidy amounting to P88 million.
“It is ironic that the Lung Center, which is a COVID-19 hospital like NKTI, is getting the smallest budgetary increase,” Castelo said.
She proposed that the country’s COVID-19 health facilities be given more funds to help strengthen their capacity to address increasing cases of infection.