NEW MALASAKIT CENTER. The opening of Malasakit Center at the Samar provincial hospital led by Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Secretary Michael Dino (3rd from left) and Samar Governor Sharee Ann Tan (3rd from right) on Wednesday (March 20, 2019). (Photo by Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas)
CATBALOGAN CITY, Samar -- The central government has inaugurated a Malasakit Center at the Samar Provincial Hospital here on Wednesday.
Secretary Michael Dino, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, led the event and also turned over a PHP5-million check as initial fund for the center’s operation.
The government will allocate PHP5 million per month to support the center's operation.
Samar Provincial Hospital is the fifth state-run hospital in the region and 33rd health facility with operational Malasakit Center. Of the 33 centers, 10 are in the Visayas, 10 in Mindanao, and 13 in Luzon.
Malasakit Center is a one-stop shop of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration that aims to hasten and improve the delivery of quality health care and free medical services to the indigents for medical and financial assistance.
The center is manned by a staff of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Health, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. It makes a unified requirement system possible, aside from the unified, single-window application form.
“Today, these centers have provided services to more than 100,000 patients with medical and financial assistance worth more than PHP300 million every month, helping the poor and underprivileged,” Dino said.
The government is working to open an additional 14 centers in different parts of the country, Dino said.
Earlier this week, he also led the opening of the Malasakit Center at the Biliran Provincial Hospital in Naval, Biliran and Northern Samar Provincial Hospital in Catarman, Northern Samar. Other existing centers in the region are at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban City and Southern Leyte Provincial Hospital in Maasin City.
Witnessing the inauguration in Samar were Governor Sharee Ann Tan, Vice Governor Stephen James Tan, and key officials of Samar Provincial Hospital and district hospitals under the provincial government. (PNA)
