The Department of Health (DOH) said on Friday, Aug. 12 that it will be allotting P15 billion for multi-specialty centers as part of the Philippine Health Facility Development Plan (PHFDP).
"We have initially identified and prioritized neonatal, heart, lungs, kidney and cancer as part of this multi-specialty centers," DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said during a press briefing.
She stated that this is part of the DOH's effort to specialize big hospitals in the different regions in the country.
She added that the agency has already identified hospitals in Luzon namely in Region 1, Region 2, CAR, 4-A, 4-B and Region as well as hospitals in Visayas and Mindanao.
Vergeire also mentioned that there are ongoing discussions on how to enhance the specialty centers like those with Baguio General Hospital in CAR; Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center in Region 1; Bicol Regional Teaching and Training Hospital in Region 5; Batangas Medical Center; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center; Northern Mindanao Medical Center; and Southern Philippines Medical Center.
"We have pegged it in a multi-year budget. Hindi naman matatapos yan sa isang taon (It will not be finished in one year). So we had 2021 to 2025 and the total cost approximate para po sa lahat ng gagawin natin dito sa mga specialty centers na 'to (for everything that we will do for these special centers) is around P15 billion," Vergeire explained.
She added that this initiative will be done slowly through the Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) and will not just be merely an infrastructure program since it has to have the "specialty capacity".