By: Raydes Barcia
Legazpi City ––Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda (2nd District) of Albay is pushing the conversion of Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH) into Philippine General Hospital in Southern Luzon to increase the bed capacity from 250 to 800 in the province.
Salceda, chair of House Ways and Means said the conversion BRTTH into general and subspecialty hospital to be known as Bicol Regional Hospital and Medical Center (BRHMC) in the region to cater the ballooning number of patients seeking medical treatment here.
Salceda author of the House Bill No. 8228 converting the BRTTH into a general and subspecialty hospital “PGH of South Luzon” will allow the increase of bed capacity of the hospital from 250 to 800.
“This will realize a longstanding dream among Albayanos to have quality affordable medical care for every medical need, and to have access to it within their own province,” Salceda said.
“The BRTTH is also Albay’s COVID-19 treatment facility. It is the beating heart of our pandemic response,” Salceda added.
The Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital in Daraga town is Bicol region’s biggest government hospital and one of the three Covid-19 referral hospitals of the Department of Health.
The BRTTH is home of the specialists, trained and experienced medical doctors like the tested soldiers in the battlefield led by Dr. Eric Raborar.
“The BRTTH is the PGH of the Bicol Region. It is the training hospital for the Bicol University College of Medicine, which is one of the first state medical schools in this country, outside the University of the Philippines System, to offer free tuition to a significant share of its students. The BRTTH allows us the BU-CM to produce doctors who are prepared for the real-life challenges of public health and medicine in a developing country,” Salceda said.
Salceda’s measure was approved in the second reading by the members of the House of Representatives converting BRTTH into a general hospital as the Senate expected to approve the bill on final reading next week.
“I think the Senate will approve this measure on final reading next week, so that we can get this done before President Duterte’s term ends. We are counting on Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, a fellow Albayano, to help us make sure the bill is on the table for approval before the break,” the lawmaker said.
Salceda also expressed gratitude to President Duterte “for his continuous support for the BRTTH” including Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go “for moving the measure quickly in the Senate.”
“This would not have happened without the strong support of the national government. I also thank the Senate and House leaderships for moving this bill forward. In 2018, we reaffirmed a longstanding dream to modernize the BRTTH, with the strong support of President Duterte,” he said.
“The BRTTH now includes a PhilHealth Ward, P580-million equipment modernization; its Trauma ER; its Bicol Cancer Institute, and its MRI center through our efforts to work with the National Government. We now also have a 600-bed capacity hospital building under construction and a Bicol Regional Heart Center,” Salceda said during his sponsorship speech in the Senate Committee on Health.
The Albay lawmaker underscored the importance of the hospital in Bicol region, specifically in Albay province, where the seat of national government agencies is located and is the region’s hub.
Currently, the BRTTH is catering medical services in the provinces of Albay, Sorsogon, Masbate, Catanduanes and as far as Visayan region.