Six representatives at the House call on the Senate to approve the bill intended for the establishment of Samar Medical Center in Calbayog to address the ongoing risk of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

House Bill No. 8195 was proposed by Tingog party-list Representative Yedda Marie K. Romualdez, House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin G. Romualdez, Samar Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento, Northern Samar Paul Ruiz Daza, Northern Samar Rep. Jose “Jun” Ong, Jr., and Parañaque City Rep. Eric Olivares.

Five of the authors are based in Visayas.

Garnering 200 affirmative votes on the third and final reading, the six lawmakers seek for the speedy approval of the measure.

Rep. Yedda shared that this was among her top priorities upon taking a seat in the Congress.

The Samar Island Medical Center shall be built in Calbayog, Samar, and shall be under the control, supervision, and management of the Department of Health (DOH).

With this, the Romualdezes lauded House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco’s call to grant the approval.

“Patients and their families have to travel four to five hours from Northern Samar, three to four hours from Eastern Samar, and two to three hours from Samar just to get to the nearest government tertiary hospital located in Tacloban (Leyte). With these three provinces already having one of the highest poverty incidence in the country, the availability of accessible and affordable hospital care is one of its most pressing needs,” Rep. Yedda explained in lamenting the absence of a single government tertiary hospital in the island.

According to Rep. Yedda, Eastern Visayas consists of 51 government-owned and twenty-seven (27) privately-owned hospitals in Eastern Visayas.

The current doctor to patient ratio at the hospital is at 1:10,337 despite the World Health Organization’s (WHO) advise to observe a 1:1,000.

As of writing, there are two retained hospitals in the area: Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center in Tacloban City and the Schistosomiasis Research Hospital in Palo, Leyte.