Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go recently attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Don Marcelino Super Health Center (SHC)in Davao Occidental as he stressed his commitment help the government capacitate and build more health facilities that would benefit disadvantaged Filipinos especially in the provinces.
Upon the invitation of the Department of Health and the local government of Don Marcelino, Go, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, was instrumental in pushing for the budget of the said Super Health Center.
Apart from Don Marcelino, Super Health Centers will also hold groundbreaking rites in Sarangani and Santa Maria.
Some 307 SHCs were funded in 2022 through Go’s initiative and he has likewise successfully pushed for adequate funds for more SHCs in the 2023 health budget.
Super Health Centers offer health services including database management, out-patient, birthing, isolation, isolation, diagnostic (laboratory: X-ray, ultrasound), pharmacy and ambulatory surgical unit.
Other available services are eye, ear, nose, and throat service, oncology centers, physical therapy and rehabilitation center and telemedicine, where remote diagnosis and treatment of patients are done.
Still in line with his vision to make healthcare services more accessible, Go also encouraged the public to take advantage of the services offered in the nearby Malasakit Centers.
A brainchild of Go, the Malasakit Centers program brings together all concerned agencies, including the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office under one roof to ensure medical assistance programs are within reach of particularly poor and indigent Filipinos.
Since it started in 2018, the program has been institutionalized under the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019, which Go primarily authored and sponsored, and has now established 154 centers and benefitted millions of Filipinos nationwide.
