ARMM lawmakers OK Maguindanao hospital upgrade

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The “Little Congress” of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) approved a proposal to upgrade into a 75-bed capacity a public hospital in Maguindanao that can only admit 25 patients to maximize admission of indigent Moro and non-Moro folks.

The 24-seat Regional Legislative Assembly (RLA), which is the ARMM’s law-making body, is also to allocate funds needed for the expansion of the Buluan District Hospital in Buluan town, located in the second district of Maguindanao.

Assemblyman Khadafeh Mangudadatu, author of the RLA Bill 02, which seeks the hospital expansion, said the proposal was approved last November 11 by RLA.

The RLA is composed of three legislators from each of the ARMM’s seven congressional districts.

Mangudadatu said he is confident ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman will approve the proposal once submitted to the Office of the Regional Governor for an executive imprimatur.

Physician Kadil Sinolinding Jr., regional health secretary of the autonomous region, said the upgrading of the Buluan District Hospital will maximize its patient admission capacity, being the only hospital in the southernmost part of the Maguindanao.

The hospital covers six towns --- Buluan, Datu Paglas, Paglat, Gen. Pendatun, Pandag and Mangudadatu --- that are home to no fewer than 300,000 residents, mostly ethnic Moro settlers. - John Unson