House Deputy Speaker and Batangas 6th district Rep. Ralph Recto (Facebook)

House Deputy Speaker and Batangas 6th district Rep. Ralph Recto is hoping that the Senate would pass the counterpart bill to the proposed Department of Health Specialty Centers Act.

He said that this would allow President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to sign the bill and highlight it in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) as a program that he will fund in the 2024 national budget.

Marcos will deliver his second SONA on July  24 at the House of Representatives. This will in turn signal the start of the second regular session, and consequently a new budget process.

“Laws are like doctor’s prescriptions. If not followed or taken or bought, then they remain as jottings on a piece of paper,” Recto, a former Senate President Pro Tempore, said on Friday, May 12.

“Let us build these specialty centers. So for those seeking treatment, all roads must not lead to Manila. And that the best pathways should not automatically lead to the doors of private hospitals,” he said.

Last Monday, the House approved on third and final reading a bill that aims to expand healthcare services by establishing specialized care centers in hospitals under the supervision and control of the Department of Health (DOH).

This is embodied in House Bill (HB) No.7751, or the proposed Department of Health Specialty Centers Act.

The Senate has yet to pass their counterpart to the measure, the importance of which was underscored by Recto.

He said the bill seeks to spare the sick and their families of the “financial pain“ of going to Manila, Cebu and Davao where government specialty centers are.

“For those from the provinces, the cost of seeking treatment in Manila, in the Heart or Lung Center, exponentially rises - the version of an elevated financial BP. Money that could have been spent solely for the patient’s treatment is eaten up by fare, board and lodging of caregivers,” he noted.

The bill calls for the establishment by the DOH of National Specialty Centers, Advanced Comprehensive Specialty Centers, and Basic Comprehensive Specialty Center in selected DOH hospitals.

The designated hospitals will focus on 17 specialties : cancer; cardiovascular; lung; renal and kidney transplant; brain and spine; trauma; burn; orthopedic and physical rehabilitation; infectious disease and tropical medicine; toxicology; mental health; geriatrics; neonatal; dermatology; ear, nose and throat; and ophthalmology.