TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Rep. Allen Jesse C. Mangaoang underscored the importance of converting the Kalinga Provincial Hospital to the Northern Cordillera Regional Hospital that will significantly contribute in further enhancing the delivery of quality health care services to constituents in the area.
At present, the Kalinga Provincial Hospital is under the supervision and control of the provincial government which provided the bulk of the resources through the appropriations earmarked by the provincial government for its annual operations pursuant to the devolution enshrined in the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of the Philippines.
“We want the hospital to be under the control of the health department so that funds being earmarked by the provincial government could be allocated for the improvement of the six district hospitals being administered by the province,” Congressman Mangaoang stressed.
He added that the proposed transfer to the national government of the management and administration of the provincial hospital will also increase the bed capacity aside from the significant improvement of services and the acquisition of additional equipment, among others.
In the 18th Congress, the proposed law converting the Kalinga Provincial Hospital to the Northern Cordillera Regional Hospital was approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading and was nearly passed by the Senate also on third reading but it was overtaken by events.
Currently, the lawmaker claimed that the said bill is still pending with the House committee on appropriations and awaiting recommendation from the health department.
According to him, the national government is inclined to provide funding support to the upgrading of the bed capacity of government hospitals that are under its jurisdiction rather than takeover hospitals that had already been devolved to the local governments by virtue of the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991.
The provincial government and other concerned sectors support the proposed conversion of the provincial government-managed hospital to a regional health facility because the province can then utilize the funds for its priority development projects and the maintenance of the district hospitals within its jurisdiction.
The provincial government has been allocating more or less PhP400 million annually to sustain the administration, operation and management of the Kalinga District Hospital which is approximately 50 percent of the hospital’s annual budget excluding the funds being earmarked under the 20 percent local development fund.
Health was among the major services that was immediately devolved to the local governments following the implementation of RA 7160 forcing local governments to allocate funds for their upkeep that ate up the bulk of their respective budgets through the years. For this year, the national government implemented another wave of devolution because of the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing local government’s a share from the national taxes being collected by the bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) by virtue of the National Tax Allocation (NATA), formerly the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA). By Dexter A. See