4 specialty hospitals get additional P1B each from 2026 budget
The four specialty hospitals in the country will each receive an additional funding of P1 billion from the 2026 national budget, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Saturday.
These hospitals, which are also classified as government-owned or controlled corporations (GOCCs), are the Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Heart Center and Philippine Children’s Medical Center.
Universal Health Care
With the additional funding, public services will expand together with the zero balance billing policy applied to patients in need, the DOH said on Facebook.
The post also featured a video quoting Health Secretary Ted Herbosa as saying that the 2026 General Appropriations Act (GAA) has a provision granting an additional P1 billion “to each specialty hospital.” President Marcos enacted on Jan. 5 the GAA, the country’s budget this year.
Herbosa expressed gratitude to the President for the allocation, which he said will help strengthen the Universal Health Care system provided by Republic Act No. 11223.
The health chief said more patients can now have access to complex medical procedures without out-of-pocket expenses.
But as GOCCs, the four specialty hospitals typically maintain a bed capacity of 70 percent for private and 30 percent for public patients.
No more guarantee letters
Nevertheless, the DOH announced last week that its zero balance billing policy is already in effect in government hospitals around the country.
This renders moot guarantee letters by public officials in behalf of selected patients, the department said, since all patients availing themselves of government medical service will no longer be charged that cost.
The policy, first introduced after Mr. Marcos’ State of the Nation Address in July last year, was initially implemented in select DOH hospitals and benefited over 1 million patients by the end of the year. —WITH A REPORT FROM PNA
