In a step towards making quality healthcare more accessible and affordable for all Filipinos, the Malasakit Center at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City is now open to serve indigent and poor patients in need of medical assistance from the government.

Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, attended the launch of the country’s 49th Malasakit Center on Tuesday, marking the second time that a center was established in a specialty hospital in the city after the first one was opened at the nearby Lung Center of the Philippines back in January.

In his message, the senator recounted how the Malasakit Center program was conceived to improve the access of Filipinos to quick government healthcare services, adding that he also seeks to institutionalize and set criteria for the establishment of Malasakit Centers to ensure that these centers are properly staffed so that concerned agencies are represented and are functioning properly to help every Filipino in need.

Go sponsored the committee report for the Malasakit Center Act of 2019 which has already hurdled the interpellation period. Go said that he hopes the measure be passed into law the soonest possible time given the support for the measure expressed by fellow lawmakers.

The Malasakit Center is a one-stop shop where patients only need to sign a single form to avail of government medical assistance. Go clarified that the centers will serve as an office that hosts concerned government agencies that provide medical and financial assistance, such as the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and PhilHealth.

Go also explained that the medical and financial assistance provided in Malasakit Centers will come from the budget of concerned agencies with programs for poor and indigents patients.