The administration of President Marcos plans to establish 179 specialty centers and rehabilitate the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) Annex building by the end of his term.

President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. (Photo from the Presidential Communications Office)

This was announced by the President himself in his speech during the launching of the country’s first human lung transplant of the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) and the NKTI pneumonia Tuesday, Jan. 23.

“By 2028, we aim to establish an additional 179 specialty centers, seven of which are dedicated as lung care centers,” he said.

So far, the government has already established 131 functional specialty centers nationwide, nine of which are dedicated lung care centers that aim to make lung care accessible to Filipinos, especially for those in the rural areas.

The Chief Executive also vowed to exert all efforts in rehabilitating the NKTI Annex building following a fire that gutted the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) in 1998.

“We will be coming to you again so that we can complete, we can complete the rebuilding, I was a little sad to hear that the damage that was caused by the fire of 1998 has not yet been completely rehabilitated, and I think that’s the first thing that we have to look to,” the Chief Executive added.

The LCP was created in 1981 by virtue of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1823, while the NKTI is a tertiary medical specialty center created in 1981 through PD No. 1832.

Both were established during the time of Marcos’ father and namesake, former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

The President lamented the “delay” of the rehabilitation of the NKTI after the 1998 fire that eviscerated the LCP affected the nearby NKTI Annex building that housed an emergency room, wards, operating room, and radiology complex.

“And, it seems like it has been too long delay to wait since 1998 to bring us back to the standards, or at least the capacity that we had in 1998 to now, which is already 2024. So, we are playing catch-up, but we will do all that we can,” he promised.

In Nov. 2022, the government initiated the five-year LCP-NKTI Lung Transplant Program to develop a lung transplant manual to address the lack of infrastructure and organ donation and allocation system, limited access to trained personnel, and financial constraints.

The program aims to improve the LCP’s infrastructure capacity, which includes the P4.2-million renovation of the post-anesthesia care unit and the P1.8-million surgical intensive care unit funded by the 2024 General Appropriations Act and private sector donations.

Meanwhile, Marcos also said that the government will continue conducting trainings for doctors through the “Doctors to the Barrios Program” as “their development is critical to the realization of universal healthcare”.

To uplift the lives of the Filipino healthcare workers and strengthen their knowledge and skills, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Health (DOH) are also implementing an expanded nursing education program that aims to address the shortage of nurses while ensuring their future supply.

The President took the chance to laud the healthcare workers for their commitment to the realization of an improved healthcare system for Filipinos.

“Nais naming ipaabot ang aming taus-pusong pasasalamat dahil sa inyong katapangan (We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude because of your courage), your gallant acts do not fade with time, then gratitude has no expiry date either,” Marcos said.