MANILA – A National Center for Geriatric Health and Research Institute (NCGHRI) would be established soon to guarantee that all senior citizens across the country have access to holistic health services.
In a plenary session at the House of Representatives on Monday, a total of 201 lawmakers voted to approve House Bill 10697, which would create dedicated medical facilities and geriatric specialty centers all over the regions.
The NCGHRI would be mandated to establish, operate, equip, and maintain an integrated medical institution specializing in geriatric health services, according to House Committee on Health Chairperson Angelina Tan.
Geriatrics is a branch of medicine that focuses on the health of the elderly by preventing and treating their diseases and disabilities.
The bill’s author, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, stated that specialized geriatric care will reduce the average length of hospital stay among elderly patients from 7.3 days to 6.7 days, lessen hospital costs to around PHP50,000 per patient, and improve senior citizens’ overall care.
Velasco also asserted that a hospital specializing in geriatric care can help bridge the Philippines’ ongoing shortage of geriatricians by serving as a training ground for doctors interested in pursuing a geriatric health specialization.
Moreover, it will establish geriatric health as a legitimate field of specialty and encourage new and aspiring physicians to pursue careers as geriatricians.
“This bill seeks to make the country’s commitment to universal health care more genuinely felt by the elderly population and give our almost 10 million senior citizens the quality healthcare they rightfully deserve,” he said.
The measure mandates the retention of all revenue generated by the NCGHRI’s operations to supplement the hospital’s maintenance and other operating expenses, as well as capital outlay obligations.
It also exempts all donations, contributions, grants, bequests, or gifts, in cash or in kind, received by the NCGHRI from income, donor, and all other kinds of taxes.
