Establishment of heart centers in Visayas, Mindanao sought

MANILA, Philippines -A partylist lawmaker has sought the establishment of medical facilities in the Visayas and Mindanao that would specialize in treating heart ailments and related diseases.

Party-list Alay Buhay Rep. Wes Gatchalian noted the need to establish Philippine Heart Center medical facilities in the Visayas and Mindanao to promote the right of the people to better health services.

"Government must ensure that specialty hospitals (level 3) should be widely and geographically distributed across the country, being an archipelagic state, instead of its concentration in the National Capital Region," Gatchalian said.

Under Gatchalian's House Bill 4342, the government is enjoined to establish the Visayas and Mindanao Hospital facilities of the Philippine Heart Center.

The measure also mandates the government to appropriate P1 billion each for the PHC facilities in the Visayas and Mindanao.

The PHC is a specialty and research center with the most modern facilities and state of the art equipment for heart and related diseases in the country, Gatchalian said.

"It has gained the reputation as one of the best Congenital Heart Surgery Centers not only in the country but in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nation) Region as well. Yet, its location is not as comprehensive or accessible to many Filipinos in the Visayas and Mindanao," he added.

The proposed measure also provides that the PHC shall be administered by a Board of Trustees, composed of seven members, to be appointed by the President of the Philippines which shall be the governing Board of all the PHC Hospital wherever situated.

The Executive Director of the Center shall be appointed by the Board of Trustees.

The Hospital Director for Visayas and Mindanao facilities shall be appointed by the Board of Trustees on the basis of search process for a period of six years and until their successors shall have been appointed and qualified with a reappointment.

The Executive Director of the PHC shall serve as Vice-Chairman of the Board and shall act as chief executive officer of the PHC, with authority, among others, to appoint, remove, and fix the compensation of the personnel, subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees.