BONG GO PROVIDES SUPPORT TO VARIOUS SECTORAL GROUPS IN JANIUAY, ILOILO

SENATOR  Christopher “Bong” Go has dispatched his team to Janiuay, Iloilo, on Monday, August 14, to assist residents facing challenges and conduct relief operations in coordination with their Liga ng mga Barangay President Manuel Locsin.

Go’s team, who assisted 500 vulnerable individuals at the Liga Hall, distributed masks to all recipients and provided mobile phones, shoes, umbrellas, and balls for basketball and volleyball to select beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) extended financial support to each qualified beneficiary.

As chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, Go took the initiative to offer further assistance to those facing health concerns. He advised beneficiaries and their families to visit any of the four Malasakit Centers in the province if they require medical aid.

Malasakit Centers are located at the Don Jose S. Monfort Medical Center Extension Hospital in Barotac Nuevo, Western Visayas Sanitarium and General Hospital (WVSGH) in Santa Barbara, and West Visayas State University Medical Center and Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City.

Go is the principal author and sponsor of Republic Act No. 11463 or the Malasakit Centers Act.

There are now 158 Malasakit Centers nationwide.

Go also supported the construction of Super Health Centers (SHCs) in the province. The Department of Health (DOH) has identified other areas where to establish more SHCs including Iloilo City and the towns of Anilao, Concepcion, Estancia, Carles, Dingle, Guimbal, Janiuay, Igbaras, Lambunao, Lemery, Maasin, Miag-ao, Oton, Pavia, Pototan, Santa Barbara, Tigbauan, San Joaquin, Sara and Barotac Viejo — the last one’s groundbreaking was attended by Go last June.

The SHC is a medium version of a polyclinic yet an improved type of rural health unit. The services available in the center include database management, out-patient, birthing, isolation, diagnostic (laboratory: x-ray, ultrasound), pharmacy, and ambulatory surgical unit. Other available services are eye, ear, nose, and throat (EENT) service; oncology centers; physical therapy and rehabilitation center; and telemedicine, which makes remote diagnosis and treatment of patients possible.

“Ang isang malaking bagay dito ay ang early detection kung may sakit ang isang pasyente. Dahil nasa kanilang komunidad ang SHC, madali na para sa kanya ang magpakonsulta. At kung malalaman agad ang sakit ng isang pasyente, mabibigyan siya ng primary care, malalapatan ng lunas, at lalaki ang tsansa na maka-recover siya sa kanyang sakit,” he explained.

As vice chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, Go has also supported various infrastructure initiatives to help improve the delivery of basic services in the province, such as the construction of multipurpose buildings in Barotac Viejo, completion of various barangay health stations throughout Iloilo City and the construction of a multipurpose building in the Iloilo City Public Market.

Other major initiatives he supported include the concreting or construction of roads in Badiangan, Banate, Carles, Dumangas, Lemery, Miag-ao, and Sara; completion of the barangay health stations in Leon; construction of a flood control system in Balasan; construction of a seawall in Banate; construction of the legislative building complete with facilities in San Dionisio; and improvement of the public parks in Duenas.

Go also sponsored a law that increased the bed capacity and converted WVS to what is now known as the Western Visayas Sanitarium and General Hospital, and another to upgrade the Don Jose D. Monfort Medical Center Extension Hospital in Barotac Nuevo into a tertiary hospital known as the Don Jose S. Monfort Medical Center.