TAWI-TAWI —The Bangsamoro Transition Authority’s Committee on Health held a public consultation on March 9 in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, to gather recommendations and feedback from different sectors for the proposed measures that seek to establish and upgrade several hospitals in the said province.
Both BTA Bills 100 and 103 propose to upgrade the existing Datu Halun Sakilan Memorial Hospital from a level 1 facility with 25 beds to a level 2 facility with 100 beds.
MPs Amir Mawallil and Dr. Safrullah Dipatuan are the main proponents of the two bills and are pushing for the immediate passage of the measures.
Due to Tawi-Tawi’s geographical location in the southernmost tip of the country and its composition of various islands and islets, MP Mawallil said, the people of the province deserve the best health services it can get from the Bangsamoro Government.
“Being the southernmost province of the Philippines, Tawi-Tawi deserves the best health facilities in the Bangsamoro region,” MP Mawallil added.
Datu Halun Sakilan Memorial Hospital, located in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, is a government-run provincial hospital. The hospital is forced to provide services above its capacity due to increased population and demand.
The hospital’s bed occupancy rate is 237 percent larger than its authorized bed capacity, according to the MOH-BARMM Annual Hospital Statistical Report for 2019.
Meanwhile, BTA Bill No. 128 seeks to establish a level 1 general hospital in the municipality of Sitangkai.
Sitangkai is one of the most populated island municipalities in Tawi-Tawi. It is the southernmost part of the Philippines, close to Malaysia and Indonesia. It normally takes about eight hours to travel from Sitangkai to reach Bongao, where the most accessible hospital is located.
MP Mawallil emphasized that the burden on the people of Sitangkai must be eased, noting that patients of the said municipality have had to endure long sea journeys to ensure their kin who are sick can get admitted into the hospital or get a check-up.
During the public consultation, they also discussed BTA Bill No. 135, which seeks to establish a level 1 general hospital with a 25-bed capacity in the municipality of South Ubian and will be named Sheikh Salamat Hashim Memorial Hospital.
MP Eddie Alih, one of the main proponents of the bill, said it is the legal and moral responsibility of the Bangsamoro Government to alleviate the plight of the people and provide them their basic right to life, health, and medical services.
South Ubian is a third-class coastal municipality in the Tawi-Tawi province with a population of approximately 29,583 people and a land area of roughly 27,204 hectares. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country’s most recent poverty rate was 25.27 percent.
A Rural Health Clinic in Tandubas Municipality, 22.8 kilometers distant by sea, is the nearest medical facility for them.
“It is high time that the dividends of peace reach even our most remote and isolated islands,” MP Alih said.
MPs Sahie Udjah, Jose Lorena, Suharto Ambolodto, Al-Syed Sali, and Rasul Ismael also attended the said public consultation to support the establishment and upgrade of hospitals in Tawi-Tawi. (LTAIS-Public Information, Publication, and Media Relations Division)