PRIVATE SECTOR-LED MODERNIZATION OF STATE HOSPITALS SHOULD NOT DIMINISH SERVICES TO THE POOR--DRILON

Modernization of state-run hospitals included under the public-private partnership framework being pushed as a flagship program by the Aquino administration should not affect services to indigent patients, Senator Franklin Drilon said Thursday.

Drilon, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, believed that while PPP could jumpstart the upgrading of state hospitals which have been neglected in the past years, he said that the government should ensure that the project should not result to higher fees especially to the poor.

"I would like to emphasize that any joint venture agreement with a prospective partner in the private sector must not result in the diminution of services to the indigents which these regional hospitals are performing," he said.

"I cannot defend this administration if these PPP projects will result in higher costs to our indigents. That one would be unforgivable. I can understand the lack of resources but we should not get into ventures to sacrifice the services to the poorest sectors of our society," Drilon said as he expressed full support to the proposal to help modernize the country's state hospitals.

Hospitals included in the modernization program are Cagayan Valley Medical Center, Veterans Regional Hospital, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center, Region I Medical Center, Paulino Garcia Memorial Research and Medical Center, Jose B. Lingad Memorial Medical Center, Batangas Regional Hospital, Bicol Medical Center (Naga City), Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (Legaspi City), Quezon Memorial Hospital, Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center, Rizal Medical Center,

Amang Rodriguez Medical Center, San Lazaro Hospital, Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center, Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, Western Visayas Medical Center, Samar Provincial Hospital, Northern Mindanao Medical Center, Davao Medical Center, Zamboanga City Medical Center, Cotabato Regional and Medical Center, and CARAGA Regional Hospital.

"Conceptually, PPP is probably the way to go about rehabilitating our hospitals," he added.

A total of P3 billion is included in next year's proposed P1.816 trillion national budget to frontload rehabilition of public hospitals in the country, which would be used as government equity for the modernization of 25 regional hospitals identified by the Health department under the flagship program public-private partnership framework.

For this year, about P12.5 billion is allocated for the PPP program and another P22 billion is included in next year's outlay for PPP projects. However, none of the P12.5 billion allotted this year has been spent.