HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES- Bataan 1st district representative Geraldine B. Roman recently filed health care bills citing health development as “one of the pressing and urgent concerns of the government.”
Last October 5, Roman filed House Bill no. 3966, a bill that seeks to require all provincial government to establish, operate and maintain an intensive care unit (ICU) in their respective provincial hospitals.
“With the rising number of critically-ill patients who require hospital confinement, it is disheartening to know that many of them cannot avail of much-needed medical care,” Roman lamented.
Roman also reported that based on the 2015 list of licensed government and private hospitals prepared by the Health Facilities and Services Regulatory Bureau of the Department of Health, there are existing provincial hospitals without ICUs.
An ICU serves as an exclusive and specialized treatment of area in which patients requiring close monitoring, continuous attention and intensive critical care are kept. It contains highly technical monitoring devices and equipment having staffed by personnel trained to deliver critical care.
Meanwhile, the neophyte lady solon also filed House Bill no. 268 last June 30, a bill that seeks the establishment of Cancer Treatment Centers in every region in the country.
Based on the 2010 Philippine Cancer Facts and Figures, cancer is the third leading causes of death in the country, killing an estimated 52,000 Filipinos in 2010. The figure was derived only from Metro Manila and Rizal Province’s cancer registries. Roman believes that these cancer estimates do not include cancer cases in other parts of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
“This bill will enable Filipinos to have access to information pertaining to the prevention of cancer and, if already afflicted by the disease, to seek specialized treatment and palliative care at reduced costs,” Roman told 1Bataan.com.
Roman added that the Cancer Treatment Center also aims to establish the National Cancer Management Program which shall serve as the framework for nationwide cancer control in the country, from research program to implementation.
“Cancer patients from different income levels will now have an equal chance to avail cancer related services and facilities as there will now be a Cancer Treatment Center in every region,” Roman concluded.