Cotabato City- To answer the pressing medical needs in the island provinces of the Bangsamoro region, several lawmakers filed bills that seek to establish and upgrade hospitals in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

According to the authors of the bills, only 320 beds are available to service the 1 million population of Sulu despite the bed-to-population ratio standards set by the Health Department at not more than 1 bed to 1000 population.

One of the three hospital bills filed in the plenary on Monday afternoon, June 19, is the Upgrading of Luuk Hospital Act of 2023 which pushes for the bed capacity increase of Luuk District Hospital in Sulu from 25 to 50.

Member of the Parliament Engr. Don Mustapha Loong, one of the several authors of the bill, noted that the eastern municipalities of Luuk, Old Panamao, Kalingalan Caluang, and Omar, which have a collective population of more than 155,000, are only currently being served by a 25-bed capacity infirmary and a first level 25-bed capacity district hospital.

“Through this bill,” Loong said “we would be able to greatly improve the service level of healthcare in the eastern part of the island province by allocating more funds necessary to upgrade Luuk District Hospital’s bed capacity.”

Meanwhile, a measure that aims to upgrade the Parang District Hospital from its present first level 10-bed capacity into a second level 50-bed capacity hospital is called for in BTA Bill No. 162 or Parang District Hospital Upgrade Act of 2023.

He stressed that the need for its upgrade is “to ensure that the residents of Parang and its neighboring communities are accommodated and provided with immediate, adequate and more effective access to health care services since it is far from the main town of Jolo.”

He emphasized that the lack of adequate health services, medical facilities, and equipment provided by the existing hospital contribute to the challenges in treating the patients.

BTA Bill No. 163, on the other hand, seeks to establish Languyan District Hospital in the island province of Tawi-Tawi.

Languyan, a coastal town in Tawi-Tawi, is only served by its local rural health unit and an infirmary which can only offer basic first aid services.

With the unavailability of the basic medical services like X-ray, ultrasound, diagnostic laboratory, and surgical equipment, the constituents of Languyan, according to the authors of the bill, are left with the hurdle of transporting their ill loved ones to the nearest memorial hospital in Sapa-Sapa or Bongao, adding that travel time can mean the life and death of a person in emergent situations.

Under the proposed measures, the funds for the maintenance and operations of the hospitals will be included in the Bangsamoro Appropriations Act.

The Ministry of Health, in coordination with the Finance Ministry and the hospitals, will determine the administration, operational guidelines and organization of the workforce needed in line with upgrade and creation of the hospitals.

The bills were also authored by MPs Amilbahar S. Mawallil, Benjamin T. Loong, Atty. John Anthony L. Lim, Adzfar H. Usman, Eddie M. Alih, Abdulkarim T. Misuari, Atty. Jose Lorena, and Nurredha I. Misuari. (LTAIS-Public Information, Publication, and Media Relations Division)