A total of 16 Mobile Facility Clinics are turned over to Visayas regions on Monday, August 5, during the opening salvo of Cebu Province’s 455th Founding Anniversary, which was also attended by the governors from Regions 6, 7, and 8. | CDN Digital photo | Niña Mae Oliverio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, officially handed over 16 Mobile Facility Clinics to the provinces in the Visayas regions, making healthcare services more accessible to far-flung areas.
The turnover ceremony took place during the opening salvo for Cebu Province’s 455th Founding Anniversary at the Capitol which was attended by First Lady Marie Louise “Liza” Marcos, DOH Secretary Teodoro Herbosa and Undersecretary Glenn Mathew Baggao, among other national and local officials.
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Bagong Pilipinas Mobile Clinics program
The mobile clinic is part of the Department of Health’s Bagong Pilipinas Mobile Clinics program which aims to offer free healthcare services to the far-flung areas in the provinces.
It has several medical equipment which include X-ray, ultrasound, hematology analyzer, binocular microscope, and chemistry analyzer among others.
“Pwede ring mag-opera diyan, yung mga minor surgeries, mga Operation Bukol, Operation Tuli,” Baggao said.
(They can operate there, like minor surgeries such as Operation Bukol, Operation Tuli.)
He said that the provincial hospitals could also use the mobile clinics for their medical missions.
The mobile clinics were transported on the same day to the different provinces in Visayas.
16 provinces in Visayas
The 16 provinces that will receive the mobile clinics were Cebu, Siquijor, Bohol, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Biliran, Iloilo, Guimaras, Antique, Capiz, and Aklan.
READ MORE: DOH: 37 mobile clinics distributed across Luzon
“Parang ito ay mini-hospital siya. This can be used, mobile nga siya, so pwedeng palipat-lipat siya sa iba’t ibang lugar dito. Pero ang priority po natin dito ay yung mga isolated areas, yung mga kababayan natin na mahihirapan silang makaaccess sa mga health facility natin,” Undersecretary Baggao said.
(This is like a mini-hospital. This can be used, this is mobile, so it can move from one place to another. But our priorities here are those isolated areas, those countrymen who find it difficult to access our health facility.)
Baggao added that they already turned over mobile clinics to the regions in Luzon, and soon they would turn over the same units to the regions in Mindanao.
He assured that all provinces would receive one unit each, and after all the provinces received them, their next target would be to distribute to all towns in the country.
More mobile clinics next year
According to the speech of FL Marcos, her husband and President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., pledged to distribute mobile clinics “next year” to all municipalities in the provinces.
In a separate interview with reporters, Baggao said units would be owned and managed by the local government units and would be coordinated with the LGU-licensed hospitals.
“Halimbawa, provincial hospital, sila na po ang ta-tao diyan. Since local government, meaning to say, ‘yung mga provincial hospitals, mga district hospitals, ang magma-manage diyan o magta-tao diyan sa mga mobile facility,” Baggao said.
(For example, the provincial hospital, they will be the ones to man them. Sonce local government, meaning to say, these provincial hospitals, district hospitals will be ones to manage these o will be ones to man these mobile facilities.)
Baggao said the DOH allocated 83 mobile facility clinics for the provinces in the Philippines, and they already distributed around 50 units.
“Yung natitira na lang sa Manila, na dadalhin din namin para sa Mindanao provinces na ‘yon. Yun ang last for provinces. Hopefully, by towns. Sabi ng First Lady kanina, yan ang susunod na project ng national government,” Baggao added.
(Those that are left in Manila, we will bring them for the Mindanao provinces. Those are the last for the provinces. Hopefully, we can do these by towns. According to the first lady earlier, that will be the next project of the national government.)
Baggao added that the national government had allocated almost P10 million for each unit of mobile clinics.