The country does not have enough hospitals to attend to the needs of the people, President Duterte admitted Monday, August 16 as the nation continued to battle the spread of the coronavirus disease.
Aware of such hospital shortage, the President called for the establishment of more hospitals, particularly similar to the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), during a televised address late Monday.
Duterte was all praises for the Southern Philippines Medical Center, previously known as Davao Medical Center located in Davao City. The former mayor of Davao City took pride that this government hospital operates like a private health facility that provides efficient delivery of medical services.
The Davao City-based government hospital has been headed by Leopoldo Vega before he was appointed by the President as Undersecretary of the Department of Health last year.
"Ngayon sa Mindanao, makita ninyo ‘yang Davao Medical Center or Southern Philippines, pero I still call it Davao Medical Center, kasi napakaganda (In Mindanao, you'll see the Davao Medical Center or Southern Philippines but I still call it Davao Medical Center because it very beautiful). It’s almost like a private --- it is like a private hospital on all fours. Malinis, efficient delivery of whatever. Ang ano lang, ang mga tao is sobra-sobra ang --- talagang kulang ang mga ospital natin (But there are many people. We really have a shortage of hospitals)," the President said during his taped remarks aired on state television.
"You should add something like itong mga national hospitals. If we can have about 30 more all over Mindanao okay ‘yan, regional hospital," he said.
According to the President, the construction of regional hospitals could help provide treatment and care to patients especially those residing in Mindanao.
"It would help the country and it would also make the Mindanaoans realize that they are not --- they have not been abandoned, that they are not left to their --- to do their own problem of solving,"he said.
The country has seen an alarming increase in coronavirus cases in recent weeks following the detection of the highly transmissible Delta variant. As of August 16, the country's active cases soared to 106,672 after authorities recorded 14,610 new cases. The country's death toll has increased to 30,366.