The Department of Health (DOH) has discovered a total of 297 ‘non-functional or non-operational’ super health centers across the country.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa disclosed this on Wednesday as he inspected a super health center located in Marikina City.
‘I have in my list now, after investigating, that we have 297 non-operational or non-functional super health centers,’ Herbosa told reporters in an interview.
Herbosa also shared that he will share the findings before the Independent Commission for Infrastructure on Friday, October 17.
Super health centers, introduced in the country in 2021, aimed to serve as an improved version of a rural health unit.
Senator Christopher ‘Bong’ Go, who proposed the establishment of the health centers, earlier said that they are a ‘medium type of a polyclinic’ which includes consultation and primary care.
Herbosa explained that as the concept of super health centers began in 2021, the normal basis of a health center is a primary care facility. He said that this includes barangay health stations, rural health units, and health centers.
He then regarded the super health center as a ‘big primary care facility.’ Under the devolution of the health services to the LGU, mandated by the Local Government Code of 1991, the LGUs run primary health facilities.
A ‘manananggal’ super health center
Based on his inspection, Herbosa said that the Concepcion Dos Super Health Center in the city is included in the list of the ‘non-operational’ SHCs since 2021. He described it as a ‘manananggal’ or a fictional creature whose body is cropped into half.
‘What should I call this? It’s like a manananggal [a creature from Philippine folklore described as a mythical monster]. There is nothing at the upper part but the lower part is complete. We need to find out how to make this operational,’ he said.
He saw that while the foundation of the facility was built, the area is now covered by plants.
Herbosa shared that the construction of phase one of the project, which consists of the structure’s foundation, began in December 2023 and was completed in April 2024.
He noted that based on the agency’s initial investigation, phase one was funded with P11.5 million for a two-storey facility.
However, he said that plans changed because the local government wanted a four-storey building with a rooftop. He added that the funding for phase one increased to P21.5 million.
The DOH noted that with the modification of plans, a much higher funding for the whole facility would raise an additional fund of P180 million. It said that this means that a total of P201 million would be needed to finish the project.
He also noted that the health center was tagged as ‘completed’ but he found out that only phase 1 of the supposed four-storey building was completed. He then recognized that the agency may have a problem with its reporting of ‘completed’ super health centers.
‘I’d like to check which among the 297 were a construction delay. This is a construction delay. [I also want to check] which construction is completed but can’t operate,’ he added in Filipino.
Meanwhile, Herbosa also said that the contractor of the phase one could not turn over as built plan, or the illustration of what was already constructed.
‘The second contractor asks for it to construct the second phase,’ he said speaking in Filipino.
He then shared that the local government unit (LGU) of Marikina City was responsible for the bidding and procurement process in 2022.
Insertions
When asked who implemented the construction for phase one of the project, Herbosa said it’s the LGU.
‘Money is given to us through the GAA in our budget. This is one of the insertions. The plan somehow changed. This came to our budget in the GAA because the original budget for this in the NEP in 2022 was only six million. It was for a small health center,’ he noted.
He said that the LGU requested for a bigger amount as it wanted to maximize the land to build a bigger facility. He added that the first plan was not approved by the DOH.
‘Normally, for a budget to be included, it goes through the regional office but the insertions you heard about just come out of nowhere in our budget and it’s in the law so we have to implement it,’ he added.
He then explained that the budget for the super health centers in the LGUs will have to be approved by the regional office, or the centers for health development.
He added that once the regional office approves the proposal, including the availability of land, it will be submitted to the DOH central office. He also said that the central office will forward it to the Department of Budget and Management.
‘This did not pass through the centers for health development. We just saw it in the NEP. It was in our 2022 NEP,’ he stressed.
When asked who facilitated the insertions in the budget upon investigation, Herbosa said that they did not identify who did it. He also said that he will not go after those responsible for it as he is aiming to make the flagged super health centers as functional.