Bill up for establishing Bangsamoro Parliament Corporate Body

 BTA-BARMM Member of Parliament Khadafe Mangudadatu (File photo courtesy of Bangsamoro Information Office-BARMM) 

COTABATO CITY – Nine lawmakers in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) have filed a bill Wednesday, June 23, seeking to upgrade the Buluan District Hospital (BDH) in Maguindanao province into a Level II facility with a 200-bed capacity to accommodate more patients.

Member of Parliament Khadafe Mangudadatu authored Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA) Bill No. 92 that seeks to upgrade the BDH in Buluan town that is currently operating at Level I with a 75-bed capacity. 

Other BTA MPs supporting the bill are lawyers Raissa Jajurie, Jose Lorena, Nabil Tan, Paisalin Tago, Omar Yasser Sema; and also Dr. Zul Qarneyn Abas, Abraham Burahan, Ziaur-Rahman Adiong, and BTA Speaker Ali Pangalian Balindong.

The BDH, one of the eight government hospitals in Maguindanao, was established as a 25-bed capacity emergency hospital in 1975 under Presidential Decree 503.

It was elevated to a district hospital in 1982 and approved as a 75-bed capacity hospital by the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao-Regional Legislative Assembly through the Muslim Mindanao Autonomy Act No. 308.

Mangudadatu said the hospital caters to the residents of the towns of Buluan, Datu Paglas, Pandag, Mangudadatu, and General Salipada K. Pendatun.

“It also serves indigent patients from nearby Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato provinces,” he said. 

Mangudadatu said although the hospital has been catering an equivalent of a 100-bed capacity through the years, it remains understaffed equivalent to a 25-bed capacity facility.

“We, as the parliament of the people, cannot turn a blind eye on the unconscionable sacrifice of our medical workers,” he added.

He said the BDH workers, in their desire to serve the needs of the people, would work longer hours to compensate for the deficiencies in manpower and other service facilities, especially amid the pandemic.

“In raising the bed capacity of the hospital, the number of medical personnel shall be correspondingly increased,” Mangudadatu said.

The bill also mandates the Ministry of Health-BARMM to perform direct supervision and control of the construction and upgrading of the hospital facilities and services. (EDWIN FERNANDEZ, PNA / MINDANAO EXPOSE’)