Duterte signs law upgrading Barotac Nuevo hospital

By Sean Rafio

President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law a bill seeking to convert the Don Jose S. Monfort Medical Center (DJSMMC) Extension Hospital in Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo into a tertiary hospital to be named as Don Jose S. Monfort Medical Center.

Republic Act (RA) 11725, which was principally authored by Iloilo 4th District Rep. Braeden John “BJ” Biron, became a law on April 29, 2022.

The new law will expand DJSMMC into a 300-bed capacity tertiary hospital from a 100-bed, Level I hospital.

It will also provide more jobs to doctors, nurses, and support personnel to ensure that the hospital will have a sufficient workforce, as well as capacity resources, infrastructures, and quality services to cater to the healthcare needs of the people in the surrounding areas.

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.

As Rep. Biron pushed for the approval of the Senate counterpart of the bill during an online hearing on September 14, 2021, the lawmaker noted the growing need of the 4th district constituency for primary health care services.

Senator Bong Go, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, said the new law would inevitably help improve the capacity of the public healthcare system in the respective communities to provide quality care and services to Filipinos, especially in the grassroots.

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 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.

“There is no better time than now to upgrade our hospitals amid a global health emergency,” Biron had said.