A humanitarian initiative providing meals to public hospital patients and healthcare workers reached more than 20 medical facilities across the Philippines last week, according to the office of Senator Christopher “Bong” Go.

From 23 to 27 February, the senator’s office conducted feeding activities across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The program, which began as an effort to assist families struggling with the daily costs of hospital stays, serves patients, their companions — commonly known as “watchers” — and medical frontliners.

Go said the initiative was born from observing that many indigent families prioritize limited funds for transportation, medication and laboratory fees, often leaving them with nothing for food while waiting in hospital corridors.

“There are patients and watchers who only have enough for fare and medicine,” Go said. “If we can help ensure they have something to eat while they wait, that is a significant help.”

In Metro Manila, the office held feeding programs at Ospital ng Muntinlupa and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine.

The Luzon leg covered provinces including Laguna, Cavite and Batangas, reaching facilities such as the General Emilio Aguinaldo Memorial Hospital and Batangas Medical Center.

In the Cordillera Administrative Region, meals were distributed at Baguio General Hospital, Benguet General Hospital and several district hospitals in Apayao, Kalinga and Mountain Province.

The outreach extended to the Visayas, covering provincial hospitals in Leyte, Bohol, Iloilo, and Northern Samar. In Mindanao, the program continued at the Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City, one of the nation’s largest government-run facilities.