THE Department of Health (DOH) plans to build 28 New Urgent Care and Ambulatory Services (BUCAS) nationwide until 2028.
DOH Spokesperson Assistant Secretary Albert Domingo said that from the 28 BUCAS centers, their target is 28 million Filipinos who will benefit from it.
“Our BUCAS Centers, so said Sec. Ted ‘no 28 by 28 by 2028 – 28 BUCAS Centers by the year 2028 for the poorest 28 million Filipinos but we think it will be surpassed because it’s only now, it only started in January, so it’s already ten – so, so let’s fight that more than 28 ‘no; but for now 28 by 28 by 2028,” Asec. Albert Domingo, Spokesperson, DOH stated.
Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, chairperson of the Senate committee on health, first expressed support for the said DOH program.
The senator said, this is in line with his advocacy to improve health care in communities and bring government services closer to the people.
BUCAS project is a major health hub that will provide services similar to those in the Super Health Centers sponsored by the senator.
It is an intermediate health facility that aims to fill the gap between primary care facilities (rural health units or city health centers) and higher level health institutions (hospitals) by providing urgent health care services.
These are mid-level diagnostic and therapeutic centers that will provide first contact at the community level, for areas that are more than two hours away from a regional hospital.
But unlike Super Health Centers that are managed by local governments, BUCAS will be managed by the DOH and will serve as an extension of the agency’s hospitals.
On the other hand, Asec. Domingo further stated that their efforts are continuous for a good health system.
In fact, attached to the BUCAS PROJECT are the mobile clinics scheduled to be deployed by the DOH where they will be used in remote areas.
The BUCAS mobile clinic is the Purok Kalusugan Program – this is a program where the DOH will revive basic health care in the community and further down to the barangay level and the ‘purok’ level.
“There are those who say that primary care services are coming from the New Urgent Care and Ambulatory Centers that are being built now; in our Health Wards that will be developed as well; and let’s look forward to those mobile clinics that will be deployed soon,” Domingo added.
The said mobile clinic will have X-ray, ultrasound, hematology, chemistry and its own generator.
Along with these DOH programs, it also requires human resources, and this is where the agency sees a shortage.
Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa first said that 190,000 health workers are needed to fill the shortage in the said sector in the Philippines.
“So that’s what we talked about. Including all others, we will need the human resources, so we saw the gap. I present to the president that we have about a 190,000 needed to actually fill-in the gaps of our health care system – that’s with the net flow ‘no, those who migrate and those who are OFWs plus those who graduate from our schools,” according to Sec. Teodoro Herbosa, DOH.
That’s why, according to the DOH, the government’s programs are continuing to address this problem in the country’s health care system.
