It is no exaggeration to say that a family member getting sick can have a crippling effect on an ordinary working Filipino household. Both the patients and their loved ones are taxed not only with mental and emotional strain but sometimes even irreversible financial ruin due to exorbitant hospital and medication fees.
It is unfortunate but it is not uncommon for our poor fellow Filipinos to either be forced into debt just to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses or be forced to forego medical attention altogether for fear of falling deeper into a quagmire of financial indebtedness.
Verily, I have personally witnessed how many of our kababayans are facing the said struggle every day. Thus, I initiated the Malasakit Centers program in 2018, in the hopes that our financially incapacitated Filipinos can more conveniently access the medical assistance programs of the government.
The Malasakit Center is a one-stop shop where indigent patients can more easily apply for medical assistance from the Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
The program was institutionalized under the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019, which I primarily authored and sponsored, to reduce the beneficiaries’ hospital bills to the lowest amount possible by covering various fees and services.
Now, almost five years since the program’s inception, we already have 153 Malasakit Centers nationwide. Every day, many of our Filipinos from across the country continue to receive assistance from Malasakit Centers and we also expect more centers to be established nationwide.
As a public servant, nothing feels more fulfilling than knowing that our initiatives really do help our Filipino people. That is why I am particularly happy with the recent DoH report which indicates that over seven million Filipinos have benefited from the Malasakit Centers across the country, from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi.
According to the DoH, since its establishment in 2018, Malasakit Centers have made it more accessible for poor Filipinos to avail of medical assistance from the government. Specifically, the Medical Assistance for Indigent Patients Program of DoH, which can also be availed in any of the Malasakit Centers, has helped 7,481,333 patients with a total budget of PhP50.8 billion. In 2022 alone, more than 1.4 million patient beneficiaries received PhP14.6 billion in government assistance through the Malasakit Centers program.
DOH also said efforts are being made to broaden the scope of assistance available in Malasakit Centers to include, among other things, outpatient drug benefits. It added that PhilHealth is strengthening its financing strategies to prevent patients from having to pay out-of-pocket costs.
Meanwhile, equally needing our help are our kababayans who have been affected by recent unfortunate events. Thus, to kick off the new year, I personally aided 1,308 flood victims in Magsaysay, Misamis Oriental on 2 January. Simultaneously, my outreach team provided similar assistance to 200 more flood victims in Gingoog City.
The said distributions set off a series of relief operations by our office last week for more families who have been affected by the 25 December floodings in Misamis Oriental and Misamis Occidental.
In Misamis Oriental, beneficiaries include 200 each from the towns of Salay, Medina, Balingoan, Balingasag, Kinoguitan, Lagonglong and Binuangan.
On the other hand, in Misamis Occidental, assisted were 400 flood victims from Oroquieta City and 200 each from the towns of Jimenez, Lopez Jaena, Tudela, Aloran, Ozamis City, Clarin, Panaon, Sapang Dalaga, Calamba, Don Victoriano and Balianga.
Several fire victims in Lupon, Davao Oriental were also given relief assistance.
On 5 January, I headed to Montevista, Davao de Oro where I did a monitoring visit of the town’s Malasakit Center at the Davao de Oro Provincial Hospital and witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony of the town’s Super Health Center. Finally, I personally led the distribution of aid to 500 indigents in the town.
I hope we can reach out to more of our struggling Filipinos and support them in their times of need. My commitment as a public servant never changed. Then and now, I hope and strive to bring our public services, particularly healthcare, closer to our people, especially the needy, the helpless, and the hopeless who have no one else to turn to but our government.