LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Presidential aspirant and Senator Panfilo M. Lacson expressed his support to the proposed re—nationalization of the Benguet General Hospital (BeGH) to improve the delivery of quality health care services not only to the people of Benguet but also to those coming from other parts of the Ilocos and Cordillera regions wanting to avail of such services.
Lacson stated that the problem that transpired during the deliberations of the bill seeking the renationalization of BeGH was that there are some senior senators who tried to interpolate Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, chairman of the Senate committee on health, and that there were some issues that were not satisfactorily answered by the neophyte lawmaker that is why the same had been shelved.
However, he explained that it is not only the renationalization of BeGH that was affected as there were also some similar bills that were temporarily shelved while others were able to hurdle the stringent deliberations that were conducted on the said proposals.
The senator claimed that it has been a tradition in the Senate that veteran senators always try to test the mettle of neophyte senators during debates that is why the collateral damage is the non-passage of some legislative measures that are always shelved when the new lawmakers could not satisfy the interest of the seasoned ones.
Lacson pointed out the importance of having a medical expert in the Senate to be able to respond to the queries of lawmakers on the contents of proposed national and local legislations on health so that the same will come from experts on the said field for them to satisfy the needs of passing key legislations beneficial to the greater majority of the Filipinos.
Earlier, the House of Representatives approved on third reading a bill authored by Benguet caretaker congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Yap seeking for the renationalization of BeGH to be able to elevate its status and acquire additional medical equipment that will be used to improve the delivery of quality health care services to the people.
Lacson commended Congressman Yap for having initiated the BeGH renationalization because it is important for the government to ensure the availability of quality health care services in the various parts of the country so that people that need immediate medical attention could be provided with such by the existing government health care facilities without the need of being transferred to the private medical institutions that are situated in urban areas.
Yap facilitated the provision of additional medical equipment to further improve the health care services at the BeGH through his personal resources to sustain the provision of quality health care services to the people, especially at the height of the pandemic.
Among the significant contributions of Congressman Yap to the improved operations of BeGH is the increase in the funds for the medical assistance to indigent patients (MAIP), the put up of the molecular laboratory, the provision of two high flow oxygen machines, the operationalization of the dialysis center and the provision of filled oxygen tanks with the refilling for the stability of oxygen supply to the hospital and the district hospitals. By HENT