TABUK CITY, Kalinga – The House of Representatives recently approved on third and final reading House Bill 8273 authored by Rep. Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang that seeks to convert the Kalinga Provincial Hospital in the city into a Level 3 regional hospital to be known as the Northern Cordillera Regional Medical Center and appropriating funds for the said purpose.
Mangaoang, who chairs the House Committee on National Cultural Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, stated that the bills also seeks to increase the existing 150-bed capacity of the hospital to at least 300 to cater to the hospitalization requirements, not only residents of Kalinga, but also of people from nearby Paracelis and Natonin towns of Mountain Province, Apayao, Cagayan and Isabela.
He pointed out that the regional hospital will be named Northern Cordillera Regional Medical Center because Tabuk City has been identified by the Regional Development Council (RDC), the region’s policy making body, as the future regional growth center of the region with the proposed establishment of the Eastern Kalinga growth area.
The lawmaker added one of the major advantages of establishing the Northern Cordillera Regional Medical Center is that it will be under the direct supervision of the health department and that any future increase in bed capacity shall be consistent with the hospital development plan to be prepared by the said agency unlike in the present set up where the Kalinga Provincial Hospital is being managed and operated by the provincial government.
Further, the bill stipulated that the health care services and facilities will also be upgraded to conform with and be commensurate to the bed capacity increase as provided in the pertinent provisions of the measure.
Mangaoang claimed the existing work force of the NCRMC, including doctors, nurses and support personnel, shall be correspondingly increased to conform with the establishment of the regional hospital, the second regional hospital that will be set up in the Cordillera.
The bill mandated the Health Secretary to include in the agency’s programs the implementation of the proposed law, the funding of which shall be included in the annual general appropriations of the national government.
Moreover, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), in consultation with the health department, and the Kalinga provincial government, shall determine the cost of renationalized functions relative to the operations of the NCRMC from its current Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) and thereafter, and cause the allocation of the same to the health department chargeable against the IRA of the Kalinga provincial government.
Within 90 days from the approval of the proposed law, the Health Secretary, in consultation with the Budget Secretary, shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to implement the provisions of the same.
Mangaoang expressed optimism that the Senate will pass the required counterpart bill during the present Congress for the realization of the put up of the regional hospital. By HENT
