President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Wednesday said the government will expand some of the country's hospitals to cater to the needs of patients with special cases.
Instead of building specialty hospitals outside of Metro Manila as he promised during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), Marcos just pushed for expanding hospitals, especially in areas with "weak localized health care."
"Ang napagkasunduan namin ay imbis na magtayo ng bago pang ospital ay mag extension nalang ang ibang ospital para merong specialty na ilang kama as a specialty hospitals (What we agreed on is that instead of building new hospitals, we will just extend some hospitals to put up beds for special cases)," the President told reporters in an interview.
During his SONA, Marcos sought to build special hospitals as he acknowledged that many Filipinos avail themselves of the services of specialty public hospitals like the Heart Center, Lung Center, National Children’s Hospital, and National Kidney and Transplant Institute.
He said it was time for these services to be brought outside of the region.
But now, Marcos said the government is already identifying areas where hospital extensions will be conducted.
The government will base on those areas' experience, including during their response to Covid-19 pandemic and to patients with urgent needs.
"Doon natin ilalagay doon sa mga lugar na 'yun (We will do the extension there)," he added.
Marcos on Wednesday also broke ground for a three-storey hospital in Barangay Gaya-Gaya in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
The construction of the St. Bernadette Mother and Child Hospital is in response to the Philippine Health Facility Development Plan (PHFDP) report that identified that there are about 213 unmet needs for hospital beds in the city.
"The hospital that we just inaugurated is also a specialty hospital because it is really for women and children. So another one of the biggest conditions that we have to deal with is pregnancy, so tamang tama maraming matutulungan 'yan (it will really be helpful)," he said.