The town of Sto. Tomas in Pampanga is known as the casket capital of the Philippines.

The town’s craftsmen supply beautiful wooden and metal coffins to funeral service providers around the country.  

This small town, however, took a huge step forward on Wednesday as it also became the home to the Philippines’ first urgent care and ambulatory service facility.

This as the Department of Health (DOH) led the inauguration of the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (JBLMGH) Ambulatory and Multi-Specialty Center (JASMC) with Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Service (BUCAS) as part of its aim to deliver medical services to the poorest Filipinos.

The facility will serve the urgent medical needs of the residents of Pampanga and its surrounding provinces.

Equal healthcare access

The DOH will establish BUCAS facilities in various parts of the country with the goal of giving people from all walks of life equal access to healthcare which is part of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s Bagong Pilipinas agenda  for the genuine development of the people.

Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa explained that the aim is 28-28-28 or to build 28 BUCAS centers for the 28 million poorest Filipinos by the end of the President’s term in 2028.

“Through the BUCAS, PBBM asked me to make the people feel healthcare. This is the concretization of the Bagong Pilipinas call… I hope that this will come true in other regions in the Philippines because we are now seeing the Bagong Pilipinas,” he said.

He added that the plan is to make these facilities sustainable and free to all indigent Filipinos.

Herbosa highlighted that Pampanga’s BUCAS center will aid the DOH in its vaccination campaign. It will offer measles and oral polio vaccines for children, human papillomavirus vaccines for adolescents, and pneumococcal and flu vaccines for adults.

The facility also seeks to ensure the health of children in their first 1,000 days. This will avoid malnutrition, undernutrition, and stunting among Filipino kids.

It will likewise offer maternal healthcare to bring down maternal mortality through the improvement of birthing centers and midwives. It has an obstetrics and gynecology department for prenatal care.

In addition, the BUCAS center will aid the DOH in combating tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus. Medicines will be available for TB patients to finish their treatment.

It will also push for road safety as 70 percent of deaths are coming from young adults who are having accidents while riding motorcycles.

The facility will try to control the rising cases of hypertension among Filipinos by monitoring the blood pressure of patients as well as push for a public health approach to diabetes and childhood obesity.

Likewise, the BUCAS facility will ensure the early detection of cancers. It will diagnose and operate breast cancer patients and provide colonoscopy and endoscopy to detect colon cancer.

It will also advance the use of digital technology in  healthcare using telemedicine. In this way, people can access care from the comfort and privacy of their homes.

The JASMC with BUCAS in Sto. Tomas town will decongest JBLMGH in the City of San Fernando’s outpatient department. It caters to around 800 to 1,000 patients on a regular day compared to its 700-patient daily capacity.

“Our patients who will come from catchment areas around here don’t need to go to JBLMGH [in the City of San Fernando] for consultations because we already have them here [in Sto. Tomas],” JBLMGH Medical Center Chief Monserrat Chichioco stated.

The BUCAS center will provide ambulatory day surgery procedures or those services where patients don’t need to be admitted in a hospital.

Residents may go to the facility to seek general surgery procedures such as removal of small cysts in the skin or breasts.

They may ask for reproductive health surgery such as ligation, insertion of intrauterine devices, and insertion of contraceptive implants.

They may also go to the ophthalmology department for the assessment and operation of various eye disorders such as cataract and pterygium, and removal of stye.

Patients may visit the BUCAS center for otorhinolaryngology procedures. An example of this is when children put something such as buttons or toys in their noses.

They may also seek treatment for bone fractures in its orthopedic department; ask for maxillofacial surgery such as removal of moles or cysts in the face; and seek for dental surgery such as an impacted wisdom tooth.

Chichioco stated that transactions in the BUCAS center will be seamless for everyone in need of medical services.

“When a patient who was brought here needs to be admitted [to a hospital], we have an ambulance which will bring you to the facility where you need to be admitted. From health centers, to BUCAS, going to the hospital, we will ensure that we will meet a patient’s medical needs,” she added.

The facility will be open daily from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm.

Dream come true 

The JASMC with BUCAS facility in Sto. Tomas stands on about 5,000 square meters of land in Barangay San Vicente. The land was donated by the municipal government to JBLMGH.

Mayor John Sambo emphasized that although they are the smallest town in Pampanga, the municipal government will continue to push for its dream of providing the healthcare needs of its constituents particularly the indigents.

“This moment started with a beautiful dream, it became a journey, now a destiny and a reality. A reality that this facility will be used not only by the people of Sto. Tomas, but also of those in our nearby towns,” he said.

The local government also donated to JBLMGH a parcel of about two hectares of land for the expansion of the JASMAC with BUCAS facility.

Through the establishment of BUCAS facilities in different parts of the country, the DOH is bent on making its efforts towards modernization for health equity within its reach. Indeed, through facilities like these, indigent Filipinos who can’t afford to go to health facilities for their illnesses will be given the chance to prioritize their health.(CLJD/JLDC-PIA 3)