New law establishes hospital for Philippine Coast Guard

Members of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and their families will soon have a hospital that caters to their medical needs.

President Rodrigo Duterte on August 8 signed Republic Act 11372 establishing the Philippine Coast Guard General Hospital, which would be constructed at the Coast Guard Base Taguig in Lower Bicutan, Taguig City.

The new law aims to ensure available, accessible, affordable and quality health care services to all PCG personnel, their dependents such as the spouse and children, and retired uniformed personnel.

Included in the health care package are preventive, promotive, diagnostic, curative and rehabilitative programs.

The law also aims to conduct medical examinations of all PCG trainees to ensure their physical and mental capability, monitor patients' conditions, and generate relevant information and data for policy information.

The hospital would be administered by a board of directors composed of the PCG commandant as chairperson, PCG deputy commandant as vice chairperson with the command surgeon of the PCG Medical Service, commander of the PCG Nurse Corps, commander of the PCG Legal Service and deputy chief of Coast Guard Staff for human resource and management as members.

The board of directors are tasked to develop a program for patient care and hospital administration, organize the hospital’s structure, appoint officials and employees, prescribe their duties and fix their compensation, provide training to all hospital personnel, formulate and implement programs and measures and enter into agreements and contracts in connection with its establishment, maintenance, operation and objectives.

The law also mandates the Secretary of Transportation, who supervises the PCG, to immediately include in the department’s programs the construction and operationalization of the hospital, the funding of which will be included in the annual national budget. —KBK, GMA News