Recto: Accelerate P1.6 B program to
build regional heart, lung, kidney centers

With heart diseases now on the focus, as the countrys attention is riveted on the high-risk aorta repair surgery on Atty. Mike Arroyo, Senator Ralph Recto urged the government to hasten the establishment of heart, lung and kidney centers in several regional medical centers so those with ailments like that of the First Gentleman but do not have the resources to combat them can seek affordable cure.

The senator from Batangas said there is an ongoing P1.6 billion foreign-assisted project to establish specialty centers for heart, lung and kidney diseases in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

The six-year Japan-backed endeavor aims to establish heart, lung and kidney centers in the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital in Legaspi City, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City, Davao Medical Center in Davao City and the Northern Mindanao Medical Center in Cagayan de Oro City.

Quoting 2007 budget documents sent to the Senate, Recto said the program aims to provide equipment and staff-training to these hospitals so they can provide quality curative care to patients suffering from heart, lung and kidney diseases.

The Philippine governments counterpart to this program was included in the 2007 national budget, Recto said.

The legislator, however, suggested that the program be expedited and expanded to include other regional hospitals without the use of loans, but tax collections of the government.

With our good revenue stream this can be a local initiative, as part of the social payback program of the government, he said.

With her very personal encounter with heart disease, President Arroyo should be an advocate of an accelerated program to build these regional centers, Recto said.

By setting up specialty wards in regional medical centers, Recto explained patients who do not have the money to travel to Quezon City where these specialty hospitals are clustered can now seek treatment in a facility closer to home, family and friends.

Being isolated from loved ones when one is seeking treatment can be a heart-wrenching experience. Social support is likewise good medicine, he said.

Cardiovascular diseases, brought about by the modern yet unhealthy lifestyle of little or no exercise, coupled with a high-fat, high-cholesterol diet, have emerged as the countrys number one killer.

Lung and kidney ailments, which can potentially be fatal, have likewise been monitored to be on the rise.

Recto said a great deal of the health sector budget of about P24.7 billion this year, of which P11.7 billion will go to the Department of Health, is used to treat and manage the so-called lifestyle diseases.