The Department of Health has inaugurated the Bicol Cancer Center in the Bicol Regional Hospital and Medical Center in Daraga, Albay, which was formally opened on Saturday following the issuance of its license to operate.

In a statement Sunday, Polangui Mayor Adrian Raymond Salceda, president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines Albay Chapter, expressed gratitude to DoH Secretary Teodoro Herbosa for “bringing life-saving care closer to Bicolanos, particularly to Albayano families.”

“Cancer can be devastating for patients and their families. It gets much harder when they have to travel to Manila just to get lifesaving care. With the operation of the Bicol Cancer Center, cancer patients can now focus on recovering closer to home, where their support systems are,” Salceda said.

Cancer ranked as the second leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the country recording a total of 153,751 cases in 2020 which resulted to 92,606 deaths, according to the DoH.

“I want cancer patients in Bicol to have access to the most modern treatment they can get,” Herbosa said in his speech.

The mayor said his uncle, former Albay governor and now Second District Representative Joey Salceda, had lobbied for the creation of the cancer center since 2010, first under a public-private partnership scheme.

He recalled that Herbosa was still a senior official of the DoH then and was handling the concerns of department-run hospitals in Bicol when the cancer center was conceptualized.

“The Bicol Cancer Center is part of a much grander dream -- to transform the Bicol Regional Hospital and Medical Center into the Philippine General Hospital of the South, a dream which my uncle and Secretary Herbosa have been working on for years now,” Mayor Salceda said.

“The vision was a BRHMC that would be a complete medical ecosystem providing the best quality healthcare in South Luzon,” he added.

The mayor said the establishment of the Bicol University College of Medicine ensures a consistent stream of doctor graduates who will get trained at and serve the BRHMC.

The Bicol Heart, Lung, and Kidney Centers, meanwhile, provide top quality sub-specialty care that was previously only available outside Bicol.

The Bicol Cancer Center is part of the expansion programs after the enactment of Republic 11719, which was also principally crafted by Representative Salceda.

The law converted the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital into the BRHMC and increased its bed capacity from 250 to 800.

The cancer center was officially licensed to operate after the acquisition of equipment needed for cancer diagnosis and treatments.

Mayor Salceda also thanked House Appropriations Committee chair and Ako Bicol Party-list Representative Elizaldy Co for funding further expansions of the BRHMC and “for heavily investing in its infrastructure from water supply to halfway houses and other facilities.”

“Having the Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees in Congress being chaired both by Albayanos has been a great blessing for Albay and for BRHMC. I am sure more programs and projects for BRHMC will be delivered by both of our champions in Congress. With Secretary Herbosa, a long-time friend of the Bicol region, at the helm of DOH, we can dream even bigger for BRHMC,” Salceda said.

Representative Salceda chairs the Ways and Means committee.

LMP-Albay is composed of 15 town mayors who also work closely with their counterparts from Legazpi City, Tabaco City and Ligao City.