COTABATO CITY -- The country’s 53rd Malasakit Center at the Maguindanao Provincial Hospital in Datu Hofer, Maguindanao, provides a reprieve to hundreds of indigent patients, a health official said Friday.
Speaking to reporters, Maguindanao Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) chief Dr. Elizabeth Samama said the center serves 60 or more patients daily.
“It's enormous. A big help and relief to our patients,” Samama said as she lauded Maguindanao Governor Bai Mariam Sangki-Mangudadatu for her initiative so that Maguindanao would have one Malasakit Center.
Early this year, Sangki-Mangudadatu, then town mayor of Datu Abdullah Sangki, personally asked Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, then a senatorial candidate, to put up a Malasakit Center in the provincial hospital.
In his speech during the foundation anniversary of Datu Abdullah Sangki town in January this year, Go promised to facilitate the establishment of the center in the province.
Go made true his promise after becoming senator, and last December 6, he led the opening of the 53rd Malasakit Center nationwide at the Maguindanao provincial hospital in Datu Hoffer town.
Dubbed a “one-stop shop”, the Malasakit Center is a convergence of government agencies that extend help to indigent Filipinos.
“The center is a one-stop shop for medical and financial assistance,” Samama said.
During his speech at the opening of the Maguindanao Malasakit Center, Go reiterated that the project is non-partisan, convenient, and free of charge.
He added that the creation of a Malasakit Center is one of the efforts of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration to give Filipinos “more accessible and affordable health care.” (PNA)
