The House Committee on Health today, November 25, approved House Bill 4763 increasing the bed capacity of the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City, Negros Occidental, from 100 to 300 beds.
The bill authored by Rep. Francisco Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) also seeks the upgrading of services and facilities and the increase of medical personnel at the hospital, and the allocation of funds for the purpose.
Benitez, in his explanatory note to the bill, said the 1987 Constitution guarantees the protection and the promotion of the right to health of the people.
“The delivery of timely, quality and affordable health services, however, is hampered by the lack of government healthcare facilities and human resources which may lead to a tragic loss of life,” Benitez said.
The TLJPH is witness to this miserable condition, he said.
The hospital’s authorized bed capacity is 100 beds but its bed occupancy rate in 2018 was already 300 percent higher, he added.
The number of patients at the TLJPH in the same year were 22,014, or 60 patients admitted every day and staying for five days on average, Benitez said,
Benitez said the TLJPH clearly urgently needs augmentation in its facilities and personnel to meet the high demand for healthcare in Negros Occidental and to prevent the loss of lives.*