Orani, Bataan — Bataan 1st District Representative Geraldine B. Roman highlighted the importance of having a reliable hospital for her constituents and the public in general.
“I spoke about the State’s duty to invest more in the health of our citizenry – the workforce and primary asset of our country,” Roman said in her Facebook post after she attended the 45th Anniversary of Orani District Hospital.
The 1st termer lady solon was joined last Thursday by Acting Governor (Vice Gov.) Ma. Cristina Garcia, Orani Mayor Efren Pascual Jr., Municipal Councilor Maya Bongco and the ODH officials and employees.
Roman is also drafting a House Bill to have a new provincial hospital based here in Orani.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 40% of hospitals in the country are public. Of the over 700 public hospitals, around 10% are managed by the DOH while the rest are managed by local government units (LGUs) and other national government agencies.
The DOH categorizes both public and private hospitals based on their service capabilities, from Level 1 (primary), Level 2 (secondary), to Levels 3 and 4 (tertiary). Level 1 hospitals, which have very limited capacity comparable only to infirmaries, account for more than half of the total number of hospitals in the country.
Private hospitals outnumber government hospitals in all categories. The disparity is most glaring in tertiary hospitals where the number of private hospitals is four times that of government hospitals. Level 1 and Level 2 hospitals are relatively well distributed across the country. However, Level 3 and Level 4 hospitals are highly concentrated in Central Luzon and Metro Manila. Of the country’s 17 regions, only four meet the WHO recommendation of 20 hospital beds per 1,000 population.
Roman also filed House Bills for the establishment of Cancer Treatment Center in every region (HB 0268) and an Act requiring all provincial governments to establish and operate and maintain their own intensive care units (ICUs) in their respective provincial hospitals (HB 3966).