A primary care facility in this municipality opened Thursday to provide accessible and quality medical services to over 20,000 residents
Funded through the General Appropriations Act of 2023 with a budget of PHP20 million, the two-story multi-purpose rural health unit of Paoay town was constructed through the Department of Health-Health Facility Enhancement Program (HFEP).
The facility features a spacious patient lounge area, a dental clinic, consultation and laboratory rooms, physician’s office, pantry, storage space, and a pharmacy with essential medicines.
“We are glad that our primary care facility is now open to serve our constituents. Thank you to our president Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Ilocos Norte 2nd District Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba, and Senator Imee Marcos for acting on our request,” Paoay Mayor Sheilla Galano said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony, citing the need to provide basic healthcare services to residents.
“Finally, patients particularly the children, pregnant women and senior citizens seeking for medical consultation and vaccination at the primary care facility will no longer feel the heat and exhaustion falling in line as the new facility has air-conditioning units,” resident Mark Tabije said.
Barba, for his part, said construction of the facility is part of the administration’s health agenda to bring healthcare services closer to the people.
Opening of the facility coincided with the town fiesta’s celebration, which kicked off Thursday and will run until May 8.
In support of the universal healthcare program, the Ilocos Norte government and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) are also in the process of accrediting all rural health facilities here as primary healthcare providers.
Once accredited as primary healthcare institutions, the rural health facilities will be tapped to implement PhilHealth’s comprehensive outpatient benefit package dubbed Konsultasyong Sulit Tama (Konsulta).
Konsulta provides free consultation, laboratory examinations, and medicines to PhilHealth members and their dependents, or a personal co-pay of PHP500 in a private healthcare facility. (PNA)
