A bill seeking to establish at least one tertiary hospital operated by the Department of Health in every province has been filed in the House of Representatives.

House Bill 11349, or the proposed “Tertiary Hospital in Every Province Act,” seeks to address disparities in access to specialized and critical medical services, particularly in provinces without adequate government tertiary hospitals.

The measure, which is pending before the House Committee on Health, noted that uneven access to higher-level government hospital services forces some patients to travel outside their provinces for specialized treatment and critical care, adding financial and logistical burdens on them and their families.

House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan, one of the bill’s five authors, said the measure seeks a more equitable distribution of government hospitals and greater access to tertiary care.

“Filipinos should not have to leave their home province just to receive specialized or critical medical care. We want to bring these essential services closer to where people live,” Libanan said.

The measure is also authored by Reps. Christopher Sheen Gonzales of Eastern Samar, Albert Garcia and Maria Angela Garcia of Bataan, and Jernie Jett Nisay of Pusong Pinoy.

Under the bill, every province would be served by at least one DOH hospital licensed at no lower than Level 2, which would serve as the end-referral hospital within the province-wide health system.

A Level 2 hospital provides a range of medical and surgical services, including general medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery and anesthesia, supported by laboratory, radiology, pharmacy and other essential services.

The requirement may be met by upgrading an existing DOH hospital, constructing a new facility, or converting and upgrading an existing provincial, district, city or municipal hospital, subject to the consent of the local government unit concerned.

Libanan said the measure would expand access to government-funded tertiary health services while complementing existing local government hospitals.

The bill also allows the establishment of satellite or annex facilities in island provinces and geographically dispersed areas where a single hospital cannot reasonably serve the population.

Provinces without a DOH hospital would be required to have a fully operational Level 2 facility within three years.

Within five years, every province and qualified legislative district would be required to be served by a tertiary hospital, subject to the conditions provided under the measure.

Each hospital established, converted or upgraded under the bill would initially have at least 100 authorized beds.

The minimum capacity may be reduced to 50 beds for provinces with populations below 200,000 and certain geographically dispersed island provinces.