Residents in isolated and far-flung communities in the 16 Visayas provinces will soon be reached and served by the state-of-the-art mobile clinics, a health official said on Thursday.

Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Glenn Mathew Baggao said the mobile clinics have been deployed to remote and underserved areas under the Bagong Pilipinas Mobile Clinic Program initiated by the office of First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos.

Mrs. Marcos led the turnover ceremony of the 16 mobile clinics to the provinces across Central, Western and Eastern Visayas regions at the Cebu Provincial Capitol here, marking a significant step in enhancing healthcare services in the central Philippines.

These mobile clinics would visit various barangays across the provinces, providing residents with free medical services including X-ray, ultrasound, and blood screening.

Each mobile clinic is equipped with an ultrasound examination light, reagent refrigerator, binocular microscope, stethoscope, ophthalmoscope, clinical centrifuge, hematocrit centrifuge, hematology analyzer, handheld electrolyte analyzer, and a telemedicine set.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., through the first lady, for the initiative that underscores the government’s commitment to improving healthcare accessibility and delivering essential medical services to Visayas communities.

Meanwhile, Garcia also expressed her gratitude to the DOH for approving the license to operate the first hemodialysis center in the San Francisco town of Camotes Island.

The 10 hemodialysis machines at the Ricardo L. Maningo Memorial Hospital (RLMMH) are now being utilized to treat patients from the island. (PNA)