If there are special hospitals for soldiers and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon city should be designated as a special hospital for the country’s more than 500,000 public school teachers and their dependents, Senator Francis Tolentino said on Thursday, Aug. 11.
Tolentino explained that the State should take care of the teachers because they mold the young, serve as election personnel, help take census for the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), and help in extracurricular and civic activities of local and national officials.
Due to their heavy workload, teachers are prone to sicknesses such as pharyngitis, hypertension, anemia, hyperacidity, Covid-19, and other infectious diseases, he pointed out.
In Senate Bill (SB) 403 that Tolentino filed, the East Avenue Medical Center along East Avenue, Quezon city, shall be converted into the ‘’National Teachers Medical Center".
It will thus serve as a free medical facility for the hospitalization and medical care for teachers of public day care centers, pre-school, elementary, high school, and those teaching at post graduate courses in public schools.
To those teaching in the provinces, regional hospitalizations outside of the National Capital Region (NCR) are mandated to designate special wards for teachers and their dependent in their localities.
The Tolentino measure also includes as beneficiaries non-teaching personnel such as guidance counselor or school supervisor, administrative support staff employees and medical staff. The legal spouse and legitimate children, even illegitimate children of the teaching and non-teaching personnel are included.