Tuguegarao City (28 September) -- Health Secretary Enrique T. Ona has proposed for clustering of public hospitals in Cagayan Valley Region to involve local officials to address problems concerning medical services.
Ona, in his visit to the health facilities in the region, said if standards of the Department of Health on hospital facilities and services are concern, there are lots of lucking facilities in the public hospitals here but due to financial constraints these remains to be problem on health issues.
He said these issues and concerns may be addressed by involving the Local Government Units through clustering the public hospitals. The Local Chief Executives of the provinces, to where the patients catered by the public hospitals in the region are coming from, will seat as board of directors.
"In this way we could easily solve some problems arising in the hospitals and identify the serious diseases that are present in the area", Ona stated.
In the general assessment of the Secretary, he said all hospitals in the region needs improvement especially on the facilities needed including the use of computer in filing and data banking.
He further stated that the Cagayan Valley Medical Center here remains to be the regional government hospital that caters to patients from nearby provinces such as Isabela, Quirino, Kalinga, Apayao and Cagayan.
"This provinces will help us address the needs of our patients considering that the bulk of our clients are their constituents", Ona added.
On the other hand, Ona is also pushing on the health insurance program of the government for indigent families considering the number of poor families who need medical insurance from the region
