(Pacific Partnership 2026 Facebook)
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Including in Eastern Visayas
TACLOBAN CITY – A proposed law seeking to establish at least one Department of Health (DOH) tertiary hospital in every province could expand access to specialized and critical medical services in Eastern Visayas and other parts of the country where patients still have to travel outside their home provinces for higher-level care.
Eastern Samar Rep. Christopher Sheen Gonzales is among the five authors of House Bill 11349, or the proposed “Tertiary Hospital in Every Province Act,” which seeks to require the national government to establish or upgrade a DOH hospital in provinces without an adequate government tertiary facility.
The measure is currently pending before the House Committee on Health.
Under the proposal, every province would be served by at least one DOH hospital licensed at no lower than Level 2, which would function as the main end-referral hospital within the province’s health system.
The measure could cover provinces across the country, including those in Eastern Visayas, where geographic distance and the archipelagic nature of the region can make access to specialized medical services difficult for some communities.
The bill seeks to address disparities in access to government tertiary hospitals, particularly in provinces where patients requiring specialized or critical care may need to travel to larger cities or other provinces.
“Filipinos should not have to leave their home province just to receive specialized or critical medical care. We want to bring these essential services closer to where people live,” House Minority Leader Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan, one of the measure’s authors, said.
Gonzales, who represents Eastern Samar, is joined by Libanan of the 4Ps Party-list, Reps. Albert Garcia and Maria Angela Garcia of Bataan, and Jernie Jett Nisay of Pusong Pinoy as authors of the bill.
Under HB 11349, a hospital established or upgraded under the proposed law would initially have at least 100 authorized beds.
The minimum capacity could be reduced to 50 beds for provinces with populations below 200,000 and certain geographically dispersed or island provinces.
The government would not necessarily have to construct a new hospital in every province. The bill allows the requirement to be met by building a new DOH facility, upgrading an existing DOH hospital, or converting and upgrading an existing provincial, district, city or municipal hospital, subject to the consent of the concerned local government unit.
For island provinces and geographically isolated areas, the measure also allows the establishment of satellite or annex facilities to complement the main provincial hospital.
A Level 2 hospital provides a wider range of medical and surgical services, including general medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery and anesthesia, supported by laboratory, radiology, pharmacy and other essential services.
The proposed law sets a three-year period for provinces without a DOH hospital to have a fully operational Level 2 facility.
Within five years, every province and qualified legislative district would be served by a tertiary hospital, subject to the conditions and requirements under the measure.
For Eastern Visayas, the proposal would potentially provide a national framework for ensuring that provincial residents have access to higher-level government hospital services closer to their communities rather than having to depend solely on facilities in regional centers.
The measure also seeks to complement, rather than replace, existing local government hospitals by allowing their conversion or upgrading into facilities that could meet the proposed national standard.
Libanan said the measure is intended to promote a more equitable distribution of government-funded tertiary health services across the country.
If enacted, HB 11349 would establish a national policy requiring the government to expand or upgrade its tertiary hospital network, with implementation depending on the availability of funding, facilities, personnel and other requirements provided under the proposed law.
JOEY A. GABIETA
