FUNDING allocation for four state-owned specialty hospitals have either been sustained or increased in the proposed 2023 budget, contrary to concerns aired by some lawmakers that supposed budget cuts to the facilities would affect health services for 27,00 indigent patients.
The Department of Budget and Management (DBM), in a statement, said that the government gives high regard to the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP), the Philippine Heart Center (PHC), the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI), and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) “which, for many decades, have been proven beneficial to many Filipinos, particularly the general public.”
It said that the proposed allocations were based on their fiscal year 2021 Quantified Free Service and that “the proposed funds for the four specialty hospitals, as provided both in the National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2022 and 2023, were actually unchanged, if not, increased.”
DBM said that for LCP, the proposed budget for 2023 is P630 million, up from P404 million in 2022, while the PCMC’s proposed budget for next year is P1.2 billion up from P1.1 billion in 2022.
The department said there is only a perceived reduction after Congress adjusted the proposed allocation to LCP in 2022 to P683.9 million (from 404 million), which was reflected in the actual 2022 General Appropriations Act (GAA). For PCMC, the actual budget allocation in 2022 was P1.5 billion.
DBM said the proposed budget for the PHC in 2023 is P1.8 billion, unchanged from 2022, while the NKTI will get P1.3 billion which is the same proposed budget last year.
The department said like in the case of the LCP and the PCHC, there was a perceived decrease in the proposed allocation for PHC and the NKTI after Congress adjusted the 2022 allocations and added additional funding to the hospitals to accommodate the constructions of oxygen generating plants, purchase of medical equipment and electric beds and expansion of aid to indigent patients, among others.
DBM said that in the proposed budget for 2023, the amount of P23 billion for Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) had been included which would cover the purchase of medical equipment as well as the construction, rehabilitation and upgrading of barangay health stations, rural health units, polyclinics, local government hospitals, DOH hospital, and other various health facilities nationwide.
It gave Congress the discretion to decide how much budget to allocate for the hospitals in 2023 and said it will abide by its decision.
“The DBM yields to the collective wisdom of the honorable members of Congress on whether to increase or decrease the proposed funds of government agencies during the series of budget deliberations and hearings,” it said.
The Marcos government is seeking a P5.268 trillion budget for 2023 which it submitted to Congress in August.
