Bohol Second District Rep. Relampagos wants officials to take a close look on the plan to privatize public hospitals in the country, saying that Sections 10, 11 and 15, Article II of the 1987 Philippine Constitution guarantees the protection and promotion of the right to health of the people as well as the provision of affordable and quality health care services. “The government, through the Department of Health (DOH), maintains tertiary public hospitals as well as provincial and district hospitals. Necessarily subsidized by government, these hospitals provide health care services to a majority of the population,” Relampagos said. According to DOH, there are 72 DOH-run hospitals and more than 700 district and provincial hospitals across the country. Privatization of government hospitals is under the direction of Republic Act No. 6957, as amended by Republic Act No. 7718,entitled, “An Act Authorizing the Financing, Construction, Operation and Maintenance of Infrastructure Projects by the Private Sector, and For Other Purposes.” More common as the BOT or the Build-Operate-and Transfer Law, RA 6957 provides the legal framework for Public Private Partnership (PPP).

“The question that confronts us now is privatization of hospitals good or bad?” asked the lawmaker. Relampagos explained: “Case in point is the modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC) which BOT/PPP project, costing P5.6 billion, was awarded to Megawide Construction Corp. and World Citi Inc.” The Philippine Orthopedic Center is a DOH-retained hospital. It is the country‘s only hospital specializing in orthopedic disorders including cases of spinal cord injuries. According to a petition filed early this year to stop the government from pushing through with the BOT/PPP project, under the winning bidder,  the “modernized” POC is allowed to allocate only 70 beds for service (indigent) patients and 420 for sponsored (Philheath) patients – compared to the current 562 beds or 85 percent capacity for indigent patients. The new management would have an option not to accommodate non-paying patients if the 70 beds are already occupied.Desiring to strike a balance between these two opposing sides, Relampagos co-authored House Resolution No. 819, principally authored by Rep. Leah S. Paquiz of the Ang Nars Partylist. Specifically, the House Resolution aims at the investigation, in aid of legislation, of the privatization, corporatization or modernization of public hospitals under the BOT/PPP Law. According to HR 819, “the delivery of health care services is imbued with public interest and as such the government should be at the forefront in ensuring that health equality is promoted and not sacrificed in the name of profit.”