Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque agreed that there should be more Philippine General Hospital (PGH) but reminded that running the facility is funded by the University of the Philippines (UP) and not the Department of Health (DOH).
Roque made the statement following suggestions to build more PGHs across the country to cater to the needs of more Filipinos.
In his press briefing on Monday, Roque agreed that with the suggestion to have more PGH facilities but pointed out that the funds for its operations are sourced from UP.
"Sang-ayon tayo diyan, pero nais ko lang po ipaalam sa inyo ang PGH ay nasa ilalim ng UP system (We agree with that but I would just like to remind you that PGH is under the UP system)," he said.
"Ang budget po niya 'di po nanggagaling sa DOH, galing po 'yan sa budget ng UP (Its budget does not come from the DOH, but from the UP)," he added.
Roque said that when he was still teaching in UP, the majority of its budget is allocated to the PGH.
"Ginagamit po kasi ng UP System ang PGH bilang isang teaching facility para sa mga estudyante ng medicine (The UP System uses the PGH as a teaching facility for medical students)," he said.
Meanwhile, Roque said building more PGHs in different parts of the country has always been in the pipeline.
"Meron na pong plano na magtayo ng PGH diyan sa Diliman na mas malaki. Kung hindi po ako nagkakamali, 3,000 rooms po ang pinaplano nila (There is a plan to build a bigger PGH in Diliman, Quezon City. If I'm not mistaken, they're planning to build 3,000 rooms)," he said.
"May plano rin po ngayon sa drawing board na magkaroon ng PGH sa iba't ibang campuses ng UP system. Meron pong mga campus ang UP sa Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, among others. Tsaka meron din po 'yan sa Clark, Pampanga (It's also on the drawing board to have PGHs in different UP campuses. There is a UP campus in Cebu, Iloilo, and Davao, among others. There is also one in Clark, Pampanga)," he added.
A portion of PGH in Manila recently caught fire, displacing some patients. No one was hurt in the incident.