BOCAUE, Bulacan—The Joni Villanueva General Hospital (JVGH) is now a Malasakit Center, the fourth Malasakit Center in Bulacan.
Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go who authored Republic Act No. 11463 or the Malasakit Centers Act of 2019 and Senate Majority Floor Leader, Senator Joel Villanueva led the launching of the Malasakit Center in JVGH.
Residents in Bocaue and nearby towns of Balagtas Sta. Maria and Marilao and other areas in Bulacan who seek medical attention at Joni Villanueva can now benefit from the one-stop services the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) a Malasakit Center hospital provides.
Go said Luzon has already 90, Visayas with 30 and Mindanao with 41 Malasakit Centers providing poor and indigent Filipinos easier access in availing the services of the said government agencies for their medical needs.
“Malasakit Center helps make the lives of poor and indigent sick Filipinos easier,” he said.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Clarissa Sinhg-Vergeire who also graced the event said that the 190 Malasakit Centers have served and helped 4.5 Filipino families in 2023.
She said with the continuous expansion of the Malasakit Centers in the country more and more Filipinos will be benefited.
The Bulacan Medical Center in the City of Malolos, the Rogaciano Mercado Memorial District Hospital in Sta. Maria and the City of San Jose del Monte hospital has already been providing Malasakit Center services for more than two years.
Gov. Daniel Fernando thanked Senators Go and Villanueva for their health and other services being provided to the Bulakenyo people. He assured the people of Bulacan of the continuous utmost similar health services the Bulacan provincial government-run hospitals will accord them.
Go, chairman of the senate health committee has also authored a bill that will establish Regional Specialty Hospitals in the country to bring to the regions and provinces specialty hospitals for heart, lung, kidney, cancer and others.
This he said will help unburden our kababayans who still need to travel to Metro Manila to seek specialty medical attention and services in Philippine Heart Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney Institute, Philippine Children’s Hospital, the Philippine General Hospital for the cancer treatments, etc.
The family of Senator Villanueva donated the lot property and pushed for the construction of the hospital in honor of late Bocaue Mayor Joni Villanueva, younger sister of the senator who died of ailment while providing utmost services and care to her constituents at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020.
The hospital, the first DOH-run hospital in Bulacan which was opened and inaugurated in December 2022 provides ancillary services such as laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, nutrition and dietary, and social services.
JVGH has undergone its process to become a Level 1 hospital and will be further licensed as a Level 2 hospital in accordance with Republic Act 11720 where intensive care unit, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology, surgery, fully equipped laboratories, and more hospital beds will also be provided.
