A House of Representatives panel on Monday approved the tax provision of the measure seeking to create a National Center for Geriatric Health and Research Institute (NCGHRI).

In an online hearing, the House Committee on Ways and Means approved the substitute bill that would establish dedicated medical facilities and geriatric specialty centers across all regions.

House Committee on Health Chairperson and Quezon Rep. Angelina Tan said the NCGHRI would be mandated to establish, operate, equip, and maintain an integrated medical institution specializing in geriatric health services.

Geriatrics is a branch of medicine that focuses on the health care of elderly people through prevention and treatment of their diseases and disabilities.

The committee also approved the creation of Section 12-A on the tax provision of the substitute bill, which would exempt the NCGHRI from donor’s tax for all donations, endowments, contributions, grants and bequests.

The NCGHRI would also be exempted from income tax and customs duty.

The substitute bill consolidated House Bills 485, 604, 958, 3949, 7101, 7169, 8739 and 8799.

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, author of the bill, said specialized geriatric care will lower the average length of hospital stay among elderly patients from 7.3 days to 6.7 days, minimize hospital costs to around PHP50,000 per patient, and improve overall care of senior citizens.

Velasco further argued that a hospital specializing in geriatric care can help bridge the persistent shortage of geriatricians in the Philippines since it can become a training ground for doctors who seek to pursue a specialization in geriatric health.

It will also establish geriatric health as a viable field of specialty and incentivize new and upcoming doctors to become geriatricians.

“This bill seeks to make the country’s commitment to universal health care more genuinely felt by the elderly population and give our almost 10 million senior citizens the quality healthcare they rightfully deserve,” he said. (PNA)