THE Malasakit Center at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, which is the country’s pilot one-stop shop for health related services of the government, got another P50 million boost from the Office of the President.
This developed after the Office of the President through Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, special assistant to the president, turned over the P50 million check to the center during a press briefing in Cebu City.
The fund came from the President’s socio-civic budget.
Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV), said that the fund would benefit more indigents availing of the services of the Malasakit Center.
Gonzales said in a phone interview that since it opened in February, the center had served 10,015 indigents.
The Malasakit Center was formally inaugurated, and started operations last February, and was established to help Filipino indigents avail government-funded health services as well as financial assistance for their health.
If successful, Go also announced that the Malasakit Center in VSMMC may be replicated in other areas in the country.
“Sa pagkakaron, ang OPAV (Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas) gibutang sa sa VSMMC (As of now, the OPAV placed it in VSMMC). Dinha lang usa pero (Let’s just have it there but) maybe in the future, maging successful ’yung programa (if the program is successful), we can have one in Bacolod City or Dumaguete City. Para mas maging accessible sa mga tao (To make it more accessible to people), ” said Go.