House panel OKs bill creating Philippine Coast Guard General Hospital

The House Committee on Transportation has approved a measure that seeks to establish and construct a Philippine Coast Guard General Hospital, in a bid to provide an efficient health care delivery system to coast guard personnel and their dependents.

House Bill 6090, or the proposed "Philippine Coast Guard Hospital Act" introduced by Malabon City Representative Federico Sandoval II, aims to ensure available, accessible, affordable and quality health care services to all PCG personnel and their families.

Included in the health care package are preventive, promotive, diagnostic, curative and rehabilitative programs.

The bill also mandates conducting medical examinations of all PCG trainees to ensure their physical and mental capability, monitor patients' conditions, and generate relevant information and date for policy information.

The proposed hospital would be constructed at the Coast Guard Base Taguig in Lower Bicutan, Taguig City.

It would be administered by a board of directors composed of the secretaries of Health and Transportation as ex-officio chairperson and vice chairperson, respectively, and the commandant and deputy of the PCG, and Command Surgeon of the PCG Medical Services, as members.

The board would be mandated to formulate and implement measures and programs aimed to attain the hospital's objectives.

The same body would likewise be tasked to develop a patient care program and hospital administration that includes establishment, management, operation and maintenance of a hospital organization.

The bill allocates P400 million to the establishment and initial operations of the hospital, with future appropriations to come from the annual General Appropriations Act. — Erwin Colcol/BM, GMA News