166TH MALASAKIT CENTER IN PH LAUNCHED IN KALINGA

August 3, 2024 Provincial

CITY OF TABUK, Kalinga

Medical assistance is now more accessible and easier to avail for the people of Kalinga with the opening of a Malasakit Center at the Kalinga Provincial Hospital (KPH). This is the 166th Malasakit Center in the country and the
seventh in the Cordillera region. The Malasakit Center provides a one-stop shop for cash-strapped patients to avail
of assistance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth), Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), and the Department of Health (DOH).

The initiative, institutionalized through the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019 authored by Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” T. Go, addresses one of the biggest barriers to health among Filipinos, especially the poor and underprivileged, said DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Singh-Vergeire. “Ang bawat Pilipino na nagkakasakit, kailangan dumaan sa butas ng karayom para makakuha ng assistance na kinakailangan nila kapag sila ay walang pera, sa madalas ang ating mga kababayan hindi nalang sila magpapa-check-up, hindi nalang sila pumupunta sa
mga doctor dahil wala silang pambayad sa doctor,” Vergeire said as she led the launching ceremony on July 16.

“Ngayon makikita natin karamihan sa mga dating umaaray sa kanilang mga sakit at walang pambayad, ngayon,
komportable na sa ospital natin at walang iniisip na problemang babayaran pa nila because of the Malasakit program,” she added. To mark the start of the facility’s services, DSWD Cordillera Regional Director Maria C. Aplaten led the ceremonial awarding of P5,000 financial aid and food packs to in-patients of the KPH. The assistance is provided through the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation or AICS program of the DSWD with 50 total beneficiaries.

Aplaten and other heads of the concerned government agencies including DOH Cordillera Regional Director
Ferdinand M. Benbenen, Philhealth-Cordillera Regional Vice President Dominga A. Gadgad, and PCSO-Kalinga
officer-in-charge Romel B. Ramos expressed their full support to the Malasakit Center. “Sa pagbubukas ng ating
Malasakit Center dito sa lalawigan, nais ko pong ipaalam sa inyo na ang aming pamunuan ay lubos na sumusuporta sa inyong adhikain,” Ramos said.

(IOS-PIA CAR, Kalinga)