BOKOD, Benguet – An aspirant for one of the seats in the provincial board is pushing for the immediate upgrading of the various district hospitals in the province to be able to effectively and efficiently provide quality health care services to the people, especially during difficult times, such as the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Dr. Cosme Galasgas, Jr., a medical specialist, stated that one of the ways in doing so is increasing the number of medical specialists and para-medical personnel in the said district hospitals aside from providing these with advanced medical equipment for the medical needs of patients in the remote areas in the province.
The medical specialist disclosed that the inadequate number of specialists, personnel and medical equipment in the district hospitals were evident at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus, the provincial government should prioritize the immediate upgrading of the different health facilities provincewide to avoid similar problems in the future and to ensure that the health care needs of the people will already be given appropriate medical attention in these hospitals to prevent overcrowding in the hospitals in La Trinidad and Baguio City.
Aside from the Benguet General Hospital (BeGH), the provincial government administers and manages the operation of 5 district hospitals such as the Atok District Hospital, Northern Benguet District Hospital, Itogon District Hospital, Dennis Molintas Memorial Hospital and the Kapangan Community Medical Center.
Galasgas is aspiring for one of the available 4 seats in the provincial board that is allocated for candidates from the towns of Bokod, Kapangan, Itogon, Tuba and Sablan.
He is the former Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) president of Poblacion Bokod and the SK federation president of Bokod town.
Further, Galasgas was also a training Core Member of the Department of Internal Medicine of the Saint Louis University (SLU) Sacred Heart Hospital of the Sacred Heart and Notre Dame de Chartres Hospital.
He was also the Department Chairman of the Department of Medicine of the Pines Doctors Hospital.
Galasgas is also a visiting consultant of the Notre Dame de Chartres Hospital, SLU Hospital of the Sacred heart, Pines City Doctors Hospital, Cordillera Hospital of the Divine Grace, Benguet General Hospital and Baguio Medical Center.
Galasgas is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology at the St. Louis University, Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy at the Pines City Education Center (now known as Pines City Colleges) and Doctor of Medicine at the SLU College of Medicine.
He underscored the need for a veteran health care worker who should seat in the province’s legislative body to work out the crafting of legislative measures that will help in effectively and efficiently addressing the gaps in the implementation of health care programs, projects and activities in the local scene aside from the interventions that will be put in place by the national government.