In line with the government’s efforts to enhance, capacitate, and build more health facilities nationwide, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go personally attended the groundbreaking and capsule-laying for the Pampanga Provincial Hospital-Clark in Mabalacat City, Pampanga on Sunday, May 1, together with President Rodrigo Duterte and other key national and local officials.

The PPH-Clark is a three-story, 125-bed capacity, Level II hospital set to rise in a 9,259-square meter land located in Changi Gateway, Clark Global City. Once completed, it will be the first government hospital inside the Clark Freeport Zone.

The hospital shall be equipped with three isolation rooms, 14 private rooms, 16 semi-private rooms, 14 wards with four beds each, and six wards with six beds each room.

Once completed, the PPH-Clark is expected to provide accessible and low-cost health services to more than 120,000 workers within the Clark Freeport Zone, as well as the constituents of Pampanga and its contiguous municipalities.

The senator, who pushed for the budget of the main and support services buildings of the hospital, said that the development of the facility is only one of the national government’s many initiatives, in collaboration with local government units, to improve the country’s health system and access to healthcare for all.

“Our hospitals and healthcare facilities were caught off guard when the COVID-19 outbreak hit our country. Dahil dito, marami po sa ating mga pasyente ang napilitang pumila ng ilang oras sa ating mga health facilities,” expressed Go.

“Kaya naman natutuwa po ako ngayon dahil ang gobyerno, sa tulong ng ating mga lokal na pamahalaan, ay patuloy na nagtutulungan para maisaayos ito. Karapatan ng bawat Pilipino na magkaroon ng maayos at maaasahang serbisyong pangkalusugan kahit saan mang sulok ng bansa,” Go added.

To ensure that the Pampanga Provincial Hospital-Clark is completed on time, Go, during the activity, also sought the help of President Duterte to add another PhP100 million budget for the further construction of the hospital.

As Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Go assured that he will continue to advocate for further measures that will provide poor and impoverished patients easier access to healthcare.

Earlier, Go praised Duterte for signing into law local hospital bills that the senator sponsored to improve healthcare delivery in various parts of the nation.

With Go at the lead, the Senate Committee on Health has already sponsored and facilitated the passage of 39 bills to upgrade existing public hospitals and construct new ones across the country.

Go, who is a leading advocate for upgrading the country’s healthcare system and services, has also been working for a number of other public health-related measures.

Among these is Senate Bill No. 2158 which establishes the Philippine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC shall serve as the lead agency for developing communicable disease control and prevention initiatives. It will be primarily responsible for controlling the introduction and spread of infectious diseases in the Philippines.

The Senator also filed Senate Bill No. 2155 which establishes the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines (VIP). The institute shall serve as the country’s principal laboratory for virology research, laboratory investigations, and technical coordination of the nationwide network of virology laboratories.

The Malasakit Centers Act was likewise primarily authored and sponsored by Go and was signed into law in December 2019. It establishes a one-stop shop in all hospitals run by the Department of Health, where poor and indigent patients can conveniently avail of medical assistance from the government. To date, there are 151 Malasakit Centers that have helped over three million Filipinos and are fully operating in various parts of the country.

On the same day, Go joined in the inspection of the first-ever Overseas Filipino Workers Hospital in San Fernando City, Pampanga.