Press Release
September 2, 2015

NEW LAWS BOOST CAPACITY OF MINDANAO REGIONAL HOSPITALS IN SERVING THE POOR

SENATOR Teofisto "TG" Guingona III has announced the birth of two new laws that will dramatically boost the capacity of two major regional public hospitals in Mindanao in serving the health needs of the poor. Authored by Sen. Guingona, both laws were approved by President Benigno Aquino III on August 26.

Republic Act 10677 doubles the bed capacity of Northern Mindanao Medical Center in Cagayan de Oro from 300 to 600. The same law tasks the Health department to correspondingly increase the number of medical personnel employed by the hospital.

Meanwhile, Republic Act 10678 upgrades Davao Regional Hospital in Tagum City into a full-pledged medical center and accordingly renames it as Davao Region Medical Center. With its new status, the health facility's bed capacity is increased from 200 to 600. Davao Region Medical Center also serves as training hub for health providers and medical staff in the region.

Even before the new laws were approved by Malacanang, Guingona informed that, on a daily basis, the two medical centers were already serving patients way in excess of capacity resulting in under-served patient needs and thoroughly overworked doctors and staff.

He cited that, while still a hospital, Davao Region Medical Center has been a tertiary training center in Tagum City serving "at least 17,000 major and minor surgical cases with a daily traffic of 600 patients from Davao Region as well as Regions IX, X, VII and Caraga or thrice its capacity."

"The hospital's conversion into a medical center with training capabilities would provide affordable medical internship to local medical students and improve the quality of basic health services to the growing populace in the region," Guingona said.

Meanwhile, Guingona said that, for more than 90 years, the Northern Mindanao Medical Center has been serving an extensive number of patients not only from Cagayan de Oro City but also from the region.

Guingona added the new laws are in line with the Aquino administration's Universal Health Care agenda which, among others, aims to ensure that health facilities reach a standard of adequacy for resident constituents.

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