PBBM vows to bring quality healthcare to Filipinos

CLARK MULTI-SPECIALTY MEDICAL CENTER. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. leads the briefing and site inspection of the first-ever Clark Multi-Specialty Medical Center in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga on Monday (July 17, 2023). The construction of the first regional specialty medical center is in support of the administration’s efforts to establish more hospitals in provinces and cities across the country. (PNA photo by Alfred Frias)

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday vowed that the government would ramp up efforts to bring quality healthcare to Filipinos.

Marcos assured that his administration is “determined” to bring quality healthcare services by establishing primary healthcare facilities and specialty centers nationwide.

“I will be reporting to the nation on the progress that we have made in establishing and opening new healthcare centers around the country but that is a product of our relentless push for universal health care, and we will not stop until every Filipino can say they have good access to quality health care,” Marcos said in his speech during the inspection of the Clark Multi-Specialty Medical Center (CMSMC) in Clark, Pampanga.

The CMSMC, which will cater to those who have heart, kidney, cancer, and pediatric ailments, is a fulfillment of one of the President’s promises during his inaugural State of the Nation Address.

Marcos said it is an important component of the administration’s health facility enhancement program (HFEP).

The HFEP, he said, aims to widen the access to quality healthcare services, especially to those from underserved communities.

“I cannot forget, and the reason that healthcare has been such an important part of this administration, not only because of the experience that we have had in the pandemic in the last two to three years, but also with the guiding understanding and idea that any person, no matter how successful they are in whatever field they have been, cannot enjoy that success if they do not also enjoy good health and that is why it is a fundamental part of the services that this government will bring to our people,” he said.

Marcos said the government intends to establish more rural healthcare units, barangay centers, and “botika de barangays” (community pharmacies) to ensure that fundamental healthcare is readily available to Filipinos.

“It is not a privilege to have healthcare, it is a right and that is how we will approach this problem and that is how we will continue to make our healthcare system better for all Filipinos in whatever capacity that we are able to,” Marcos said.