House OKs bill allowing DOH to regulate bed capacity of its hospitals

The House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading a measure authorizing the Department of Health (DOH) to administratively set and approve the bed capacity and service capability of all its retained hospitals.

With 213 affirmative votes and zero negative votes, the chamber approved House Bill 5673, also known as the proposed "DOH Hospital Bed Capacity and Service Rationalization Act".

The measure primarily aimed to expedite the process of providing quality health services to Filipinos by allowing the DOH to adjust and approve the authorized bed capacity of its hospitals.

Quezon City Representative Angelina Tan, chair of the House Committee on Health and one of the authors of the measure, explained that at present, a DOH hospital may only increase its bed capacity through an act of Congress, thereby impeding the delivery of health services to patients.

Currently, there are only 70 DOH-retained public hospitals across the country, of which 51 are general hospitals while 19 are specialty hospitals.

"By allowing the DOH to administratively set and approve the authorized bed capacity of its hospitals, we remove one barrier that impedes the efficient delivery of health service," Tan said in the explanatory note of her bill.

The measure mandated the DOH to promulgate specific guidelines to be followed in appropriating the bed capacity of its retained hospitals.

The department was also tasked to submit a yearly report to both houses of Congress on the approved bed capacity of the hospitals. — DVM, GMA News