ONE-STOP SHOP. Senator Christopher ‘Bong’ Go (left) leads the opening of the 136th Malasakit Center at Labuan General Hospital in Zamboanga City. It is the third center in the city. (Photo courtesy of SBG Facebook)

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go led the launch 136th Malasakit Center at the Labuan General Hospital, located just a few kilometers away from this city’s border with Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte.

The new Malasakit Center was third in province, the other two are at the Zamboanga City Medical Center and Mindanao Central Sanitarium General Hospital in Barangay Pasobolong.

Senator Go was in Isabela City to inaugurate the Basilan General Hospital and open the 135th Malasakit Center in the province’s capital.

The Malasakit Center is a one-stop shop where indigent patients can conveniently access financial and medical assistance from the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Department of Health, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“Previously, it will take one week to seek the assistance of these agencies. With this one-stop shop center, it will only take a day to avail of government’s assistance,” Go said in his speech.

Go also requested the administration of the Labuan General Hospital to establish an express lane for senior citizens and persons with disability.

The establishment of Malasakit Centers is pursuant to Republic Act 11463, otherwise known as the Malasakit Centers Act, authored by Go and signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte in December 2019.