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OFFICE O F  THE SiCRETAARti 
FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
Second Regular Session 
1 
SENATE 
/ 
Introduced by Senator FRANCIS G. ESCUDERO 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
This bill seeks to change the name of the Davao Medical Center in J.P. 
Laurel Avenue in Davao City to the Southern Philippines Medical Center, 
increase its authorized bed capacity from six hundred (600) to one thousand two 
hundred (1200) beds and upgrade its service-facilities and professional health 
care and for other related purposes. 
Rationale for the Change of Name 
Judging by its name, the Davao Medical Center may be perceived as a 
hospital in the South, which caters only to the needs of ”Davaoefios”. But the 
name does not speak for itself. Section 4 of Republic Act No. 1859 provides: 
”Once this Center is in full operation, all patients 
requiring hospitalization and other special medical services in 
the Mindanao and Sulu areas and who cannot be given such 
services in their local hospitals shall be referred to the Davao 
Regional Medical and Training Center.” 
Thus, the Davao Medical Center, which is based in Davao City, does not 
only service the needs of the people of the Davao Provinces and Cities but aIso of 
all the people of Mindanao and Sulu. In fact, hospital statistics would show that 
approximately twenty-one to twenty-two percent (21-22%) of the patients 
admitted or treated in the Davao Medical Center come from the provinces 
outside of Davao City and some came from as far as Maguindanao, Cotabato, 
Surigao, Cagayan, Lana0 and Misamis. 
The Department of Health has declared the Davao Medical Center as the 
flagship or lead government hospital for the entire Mindanao area, and as such, 
the DMC has assumed the leadership in the service, training and research roles 
of government hospitals. 
Additionally as a ”Training and Teaching Hospital” and as an accredited 
tertiary medical center, the Davao Medical Center has assumed the lead role in 
undertaking continuing professional education programs for physicians and 
allied medical staff in Mindanao and in providing the highest quality of 
specialized hospital services to the residents of Mindanao and Sulu. 


Moreover, with the significant role it is playing in the attainment of health 
programs in Mindanao, and the expertise its medical staff has acquired through 
years of constant training, the Davao Medical Center has virtually become the 
primary "Referral Center" of other hospitals in Mindanao both public and 
private. 
In order, therefore, to erase the typical impression that the Davao Medical 
Center is only for the people of the Davao provinces, there is cogent reason to 
change its name to the Southern Philippines Medical Center. 
The advent of the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean 
Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) regional economic initiative is another reason, 
which justifies the change of the name of the Davao Medical Center to the 
Southern Philippines Medical Center. In this initiative, it is envisioned that 
medical technology and information are shared or transferred with relative ease 
among the participating countries with the end in view of upgrading and 
improving their respective medical and health care service delivery. 
Considering that the Davao Medical Center is the biggest tertiary hospital 
in Southern Philippines and is located in Davao City where the International 
Airport in the South that connects to the other participating cities or regions of 
the EAGA polygon is situated, it is highly desirable that it banners Southern 
Philippines in its name, and be designated as the Iead hospital in Mindanao in all 
medical or health related endeavors or undertakings of the BIMP-EAGA. 
Rationale for Increase in Authorized Bed Capacity and Medical 
Personnel and for Upgrading of Service Facilities 
At the present time, the Davao Medical Center has two main components: 
a 400-bed General Hospital in Bajada and a 200-bed Mental Hospital in the 
downtown area, both in Davao City (RA 7210, March 6,1992). 
The Davao Medical Center's authorized bed capacity for its general 
hospital is extremely inadequate to accommodate the ever-increasing number of 
patients coming to the hospital daily. Records show that on the combined 
average the Davao Medical Center attends to 1,088 in-patients and 1,400 out- 
patients daily. With this number of patients in mind, it is not difficult to imagine 
that a considerable number of patients is not accommodated at once and 
many have to wait for their turn due to lack of available space in the hospital. 
There are a lot of reasons given why patients always swamp the Davao 
Medical Center, the number of whom far exceeds the hospital's bed limitation. 
Firstly, critically-ill patients from far-flung areas, knowing fully well that 
their community or district hospitals are handicapped by age and isolation of 
physicians and are suffering from lack of dependable gadgetry for diagnosis and 
treatment, would normally prefer confinement in the Davao Medical Center to 
enjoy the safety and comfort that the said hospital can offer. The accessibility of 
the Davao Medical Center due to massive improvement of road networks 
connecting Davao City to any point in Mindanao is also another reason. 


Secondly, as the flagship of the Department of Health in Mindanao, DMC 
has developed several specialty centers designed for Mindanao clients. 
a) One is the Mindanao Burn Center, a special facility within the Davao 
Medical Center. Since its inception in the late go's, the Mindanao Burn 
Center has been catering to burn patients throughout Mindanao. There is 
no other existing operational burn unit dedicated to treat such focused 
emergent care. Hence, most cases referred to the unit are not only acute 
burn cases but also those patients with neglected burn wounds and those 
disfigured patients who need burn wound reconstruction. Currently, 
however, the unit needs to expand its services through training and public 
health education on the treatment and prevention for burn injuries. 
b) Another unit is the Mindanao Heart, Lung and Kidney Center which shall 
caters to special and difficult cases affecting the heart, lungs and kidneys 
that will require specialized and critical care so that such patients will no 
longer have to be referred to Manila. 
c) Also, very recently DMC has been declared by the DOH as the Sub- 
National SARS Referral Center for Mindanao and will cater to highly 
communicable diseases in this part of the country. 
d) There are many other specialty centers to be developed as part of the 
developmental programs for DMC like the OncoIogy Center, Orthopedic 
Center, Eye Center, Hematology Center, etc. 
Thirdly, the rapid growth of Davao City in recent years resulting from 
industrialization, the hefty increase of its population and the continuing exodus 
of people from the provinces to the city are also some of the reasons advanced 
which give rise to a lot of diseases or medical problems closely associated with 
urbanization and industrialization, and which, naturally cause the continuing 
increase in the number of patients needing medical treatment in Davao Medical 
Center. 
Lastly, despite its 600-hospital bed component, the Davao Medical Center 
remains inadequate to fully serve the public, particularly the poor. In the last 
three years, the bed capacity of the main hospital has averaged more than 129.79 
per cent. The DMC's main hospital, on the other hand, has now reached an 
aIarmingIy high hospital occupancy rate of 184 per cent or more. The growing 
future demand is expected to further strain the hospital and would probably 
result in the non-accommodation of more patients, both in-patient and out- 
patient. 
Because of the continuing increase of the number of patients they need to 
attend to daily, while their number virtually remain constant, the present 
medical staff has been repeatedly complaining about overstretched working 
environment, incommensurate compensation, and more overtime work with no 
overtime pay. Recently, the resident doctors at the DMC have launched a non- 
violent protest (by wearing black armbands) to express their dissatisfaction or 
objection over the working conditions at the DMC. 
Apparently because of the overstretched working conditions at the DMC, 
the number of doctors enrolled in the DMC's residency program has significantly 


declined over the years. If nothing is done to immediately arrest this problem, it 
is not remote that within the period of five (5) years, the residency program of 
the DMC would be phased out for lack of enrollees. If this happens, the hospital 
service would be adversely affected to the detriment of the people of Southern 
Philippines. 
Necessarily, the working force of the hospital will have to be increased in 
all levels. It is estimated that by the time the bed capacity reaches to one 
thousand (lOOO), the hospital personnel must be twice that number, in order to 
ensure an efficient and effective organization. 
Viewed against the above-stated situation obtaining in Davao City, and 
given its limited bed capacity and resources, the Davao Medical Center finds it 
extremely difficult to achieve the high standard of service and efficiency of 
administration as expected of it as the lead and premiere hospital in Mindanao. 
Therefore, it behooves upon the Senate to respond and legislate the 
increase of the authorized bed capacity of the Davao Medical Center from the 
existing six hundred (600) to one thousand two hundred (1200) beds, broken 
down as follows: nine hundred (900) beds for the main hospital, and three 
hundred (300) beds for the annexed Davao Mental Hospital. Consequently, its 
existing service facilities and professional health care services also need to be 
upgraded to conform with and be commensurate to its increased bed capacity. 
The number of personnel need to be increased as well to address the growing 
restlessness among the existing medical personnel. 
The role that the Davao Medical Center or the Southern Philippines 
Medical Center is envisioned to play in the EAGA region and its status as the 
primary Referral Hospital in Mindanao are added reasons which necessitate the 
upgrading of its existing service facilities making them comparable to, if not 
better than those of its counterparts in the EAGA region. 
All told, early approval of this measure is earnestly recommended. 
1. Annex “A” 


Annex “A” 
SOUTHERN PHlLIPPINES MEDICAL CENTER 
PROPOSED BED ALLOCATIONS BY DEPARTMENT 
(Existing) 
(Proposed) 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
1) SURGERY 
(75) 
165 
(Existing) 
(Proposed) 
General Surgery 
- 
- (50) 
75 
- 
30 
Urology 
- (10) 
- 
40 
Neurosurgery 
- (15) 
- 
2 
Burn Center 
Lf!u 
(75) 
165 
2) OBSTETRICS-GYNECOLOGY - 
- 
- 
- 
150 
- 
80 
(80) 
230 
Obstetrics 
- 
(60) 
Gynecology 
- 0  - 
3) PEDIATRICS 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
4) ORTHOPEDICS - 
- 
- 
- 
- 
5 )  MEDICINE 
- 
- 
- 
- 
- 
6) HEART, LUNG & KIDNEY CENTER - 
- 
7) COMMUNICABLE DISEASES CENTER 
- 
8) ENT-HNS 
- 
- 
- 
- 
9) OPTHALMOLOGY 
- 
- 
- 
- 
10) FAMILY MEDICINE 
- 
- 
- 
- 
11) DERMATOLOGY 
- 
- 
- 
- 
SUB-TOTAL (DMC MAIN) 
12) DAVAO MENTAL HOSPITAL (PSYCHIATRY) 
GRAND TOTAL 
120 
140 
70 
140 
60 
50 
10 
10 
15 
2 
900 BEDS 
300 BEDS 
1,200 BEDS 


‘;E: p; ‘,‘Ti 
Q~F(CE QF 2<4C SEXIRETARV 
. .  
FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
) 
9 MRR 19 F J ?  :i9 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
Second Regular Session 
) 
SENATE 
/ 
1 
2 
3 
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5 
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8 
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13 
Introduced by Senator FRANCIS G. ESCUDERO 
AN ACT 
CHANGING THE NAME OF THE DAVAO MEDICAL 
CENTER IN DAVAO CITY TO THE SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES 
MEDICAL CENTER, INCREASING ITS BED CAPACITY 
FROM SIX HUNDRED (600) TO ONE THOUSAND TWO 
HUNDRED (WOO), UPGRADING ITS SERVICE FACILITIES 
AND PROFESSIONAL HEALTH CARE, AUTHORIZING THE 
INCREASE 
OF 
ITS 
MEDICAL 
PERSONNEL, 
AND 
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Republic of the 
Philippines in Congress assembled: 
SECTION1. The name of the Davao Medica1 in Davao City is hereby 
changed to the SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES MEDICAL 
CENTER. 
SECTION 2. The authorized bed capacity of the Southern Philippines 
Medical Center is hereby increased from six hundred (600) to 
one thousand two hundred (1200) beds. 
SECTION 3. The existing service facilities and professional health care 
services of the Southern Philippines Medical Center are hereby 
upgraded to conform with and be commensurate to the bed 
capacity increase as provided for in SECTION 2 hereof. 
SECTION 4. The existing workforce shall also be correspondingly increased 
to thrice the present number. The Department of Health, in 
coordination with the Department of Budget and Management 
1 


and Civil Service Commission, shall determine the additional 
plantilla positions to be created and filled up upon prior 
consultation with the Davao Medical Center. 
SECTION5. The amount necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act 
shall be included in the General Appropriations Act of the year 
following its enactment into law and thereafter. 
SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect after its complete publication in the 
Official Gazette or in any two (2) newspapers of general 
circulation. 
Approved, 
2