Bringing healthcare closer to the people

The Department of Health is taking a big leap forward in ensuring quality healthcare to Filipinos, particularly those in the margins of society and in the far-flung rural areas.

We’re referring to the recent opening of the first Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Service (BUCAS) center in Sto. Tomas, Pampanga.

The BUCAS facility, the first of its kind in the country, is an extension facility of the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (JBLMGH), a regional hospital in San Fernando, the provincial capital.

The center was built as part of the national government’s efforts to bring healthcare closer to the people.

The ambulatory hospital would address the immediate medical requirements of the most underserved individuals and communities nationwide based on President Marcos’ health-care initiative for 28 million Filipinos across 28 priority areas by 2028.

The BUCAS center is a one-story facility spanning 500 square meters that once served as a COVID-19 facility. It seeks to address the ambulatory medical and surgical care needs of Filipinos in Central Luzon.

The facility stands ready to offer surgical services in general surgery, oral-maxillofacial surgery, otorhinolaryngologic surgery, and reproductive health.

Later, it will provide additional services, including ambulatory surgery in ophthalmology, orthopedics, pediatrics, and dentistry, as well as radiology and pharmacy services.

The newly opened medical center is expected to cater to 50,000 residents of seven barangays in the municipality as well as those in the adjacent town of Minalin and nearby areas.

The ambulatory hospital would also address the long queues of outpatients in need of medical laboratory services from the JBLMGH.

What’s remarkable about this project is that it was put up less than three months from conceptualization.

The goal is to establish 28 primary care centers to serve the 28 million poorest Filipinos by the year 2028.

As part of the intensified healthcare programs of the national government, the Sto. Tomas BUCAS can cater to the health needs of people as far south as Bulacan, to Tarlac and Nueva Ecija in the north and Bataan and Zambales on the western side of Central Luzon.

The DOH has earmarked between P30 million and P50 million for the construction of a BUCAS facility.

Based on the original concept, a BUCAS center is intended to be

put up beside or near a state college or university to also serve as a future medical school laboratory.

The Constitution provides that the government should “adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development which shall endeavor to make essential goods, health and other social services to all the people at affordable cost.”

The Health department is doing just that with its planned extension health facilities in other rural areas.

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