Bill upgrading Barotac Nuevo hospital awaits Duterte signature

The Senate on Tuesday approved on third and final reading House Bill No. 9074 authored by Iloilo 4th District Rep. Braeden John Biron, seeking to convert the Don Jose S. Monfort Medical Center (DJSMMC) Extension Hospital in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo into a tertiary hospital to be known as Don Jose S. Monfort Medical Center.

DJSMMC not only caters to emergency patients in the 4th district but also those from the 5th district and neighboring towns in the 2nd and 3rd districts. The hospital services communities with an estimated population of 1 million.

The passage of the proposed legislation into law would ensure the stability of the local health care system by making sure that the hospital will have sufficient capacity resources, infrastructures, and quality services to cater the healthcare needs of the people in the surrounding areas.

Specifically, the measure will expand DJSMMC into a 300-bed capacity tertiary hospital. Presently, the hospital is licensed to operate as a 100-bed, Level I hospital with budget allocation from the national government.

On Sept 14, 2021, Rep. Biron pushed for the approval of the Senate counterpart of the bill during an online hearing of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography chaired by Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go.

Rep. Biron noted the growing need of the 4th district constituency for primary health care services, thus he pushed for the expansion and upgrading of the hospital to ensure accessible, quality and affordable health care services as envisioned in the Universal Health Care.

Based on data indicated in the bill, the bed occupancy rate of DJSMMCEH has spiked by as high as 170%, in 2018, showing the imperative need for the expansion.

The number of deliveries in the hospital exponentially increased from 958 in 2015 to 1,622 in 2019. The same trend was also noted in the number of surgeries, from 2,875 in 2015 to 6,080 four years later.

Between 2015 and 2019, laboratory services expanded from 50,552 to 118,095 while radiology services spiked from 7,732 to 16,972 in the same period.

With the development of Universal Health Care, DJSMMCEH is expected to serve more patients especially those households below the average income.

The legislation has since been sent to the President and awaits his decision to sign the bill into law.

“There is no better time than now to upgrade our hospitals amid a global health emergency,” Rep. Biron shared in an interview last 2021.