Iloilo City eyes community health expansion in 2026

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Iloilo City Mayor Raisa Treñas-Chu said the city government will prioritize improvements in the health sector and expand public services in 2026, citing the need to bring healthcare closer to communities.

The mayor said at a press conference on Wednesday, Dec. 17, that she has already ordered an inventory of the city’s 79 barangay health centers and nine district health centers to assess their current condition and identify areas for improvement.

“For 2026, our main goal is to improve our health services […] In 2026, we will upgrade all our district health centers and barangay health centers. We will equip our health centers and make sure that all that is needed for standard barangay health centers is present,” Treñas-Chu said.

Treñas-Chu shared that during her first six months in office, she observed how vulnerable some families are in terms of health and wellness, particularly individuals who acquire illnesses at a young age due to limited access to health care and a lack of early medical intervention.

“They are already sick but have not gone for checkups. That’s why I told our doctors that we should make sure we are available in the barangays at least twice a week,” she said.

If not feasible, she said the city is targeting to ensure that all barangay health centers have doctors every week to expand access to health care services.

She added that medical teams will also be deployed to zonal or purok-level areas to strengthen grassroots health care delivery.

These initiatives are in line with the Department of Health’s Purok Kalusugan program, which focuses on direct household and community-based interventions and assesses whether barangay health centers need additional zona-level support or upgrades.

Treñas-Chu also announced plans to expand the city’s dialysis center through the deployment of additional chairs to respond to more than 100 wait-listed applicants at the center, funded through financial assistance from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

“We want to maximize our operations, and since our dialysis center is under PhilHealth, we can at least recover some of the expenses, and if we can add more chairs, we can help more Ilonggos,” she added.

Beyond health services, Treñas-Chu said the city will also focus on expanding social services through livelihood programs such as bugasan projects for fathers, additional negosyo carts, and increased pensions for senior citizens and persons with disabilities.

“For next year, we will make sure that all sectors are heard and catered to. We want them to be felt,” she added.