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With DAP funds being used to evict government hospitals, why not buy land for squatter-hospitals? – Ilagan

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PRESS RELEASE

“Why are DAP funds being used to evict government hospitals when they can be used to buy the land instead? This certainly speaks of the Aquino government’s lack of heart and its lack of prioritization for healthcare and services. Walang puso.

This is according to Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Luzviminda Ilagan who is set to raise questions at the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations’ deliberation on the 2015 budget allocation for the Department of Health today.

Ilagan cited the report from the Commission on Audit which questioned how P660M in DAP was used by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies. The report notes how P100M in DAP was allocated for the PIDS to purchase a portion of the lot where the Philippine Children’s Medical Center now stands.

Squatter hospitals

The Gabriela solon further said, “It is not just the Philippine Children’s Medical Center that is being threatened with eviction. The fact is that eviction notices are merely sleeping and could come around once big businesses decide they want the land for themselves. We have received information that practically all government hospitals, except for the Lung Center are sitting on land that they do not own. We have squatter hospitals all over the country! This is very alarming.”

Ilagan explained that while the government has gone snail-paced in processing lot donations for government hospitals, it is also in the process of cramming several hospitals in one compound and away from poor communities and indigent patients.

The Jose Fabella Memorial Medical Center, the country’s prime facility for maternal care is set to be relocated to the DOH compound along with the San Lazaro Hospital and Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center while the PCMC is set to be transferred to the Lung Center compound along with the Philippine Orthopedic Center.

The Gabriela solon who also joined protesters at the Congress gate decried the government’s policy to abandon healthcare services and demanded an end to the policy of allowing further private sector and business encroachment in the delivery of healthcare services. “Ang kalusugan ay serbisyo at hindi dapat ine-negosyo.  Making sure that the people receive adequate healthcare is an obligation that President Aquino and his government have clearly been remiss of.”

04 September 2014
For Reference:   REP. LUZVIMINDA C. ILAGAN 0920-9213221
REP. EMMI A. DE JESUS 0917-3221203
Jang Monte (Public Information Officer) 0917-4049119

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