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FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
SENATE 
Senate Bill No. 
5 {) 4: 
. ' ~,-' 
, INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The most important role of hospitals and health institutions is to provide adequate 
and competent medical services to the people. The reality, however, is that it is 
difficult to secure medical services from big private hospitals that often charge 
medical fees that the ordinary Filipino cannot afford, leaving him no other option 
but to rely on the medical services provided by government hospitals. This is 
especially true with patients afflicted with cancer, serious skin diseases and 
those in need of surgery where the medical procedure required involves a great 
amount of money. 
Sadly, perennial budgetary problems plague government 
hospitals and prevent them from filling this great void in the Filipinos' health care 
needs. 
The Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRRMMC) is the flagship hospital 
of the Department of Health (DOH). Through the years, JRRMMC has tried to 
provide the public with affordable premium health care services. It caters not 
only to patients from Metro Manila, but also to patients referred by other medical 
institutions from various provinces. 
Statistics show that the daily admission of JRRMMC for emergency consultation 
and 
treatment, 
medical cases 
involving cancer causing 
diseases and 
dermatology related problems, have increased through the years. JRRMMC has 
effiCiently responded to this call despite its limited resources. 
However, the 
steady growth of medical cases, particularly in the fields of trauma, cancer and 
dermatology, necessitates the need for the government to review JRRMMC's 
poli~. 
. 
There is an imperative need to upgrade the status of the JRRMMC to a national 
medical center for trauma, cancer and dermatology of the Department of Health. 
To realize this goal, the improvement of this premier government hospital is 
necessary. 
This bill aims to provide the JRRMMC two new buildings for its 
patients, increase its bed capacity, and equip it with state-of-the-art laboratory 
facilities. 
This legislation aims to create a more responsive health institution that will 
address the pressing medical needs of the people, more particularly the poor and 
, 
the marginalized of society. 
The immediate passage of this bill is therefore 
requested. 
Senator 


'\ 
FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
~~1 
}JL-7 
,\, ~ 
-
:~:" "4 .C 
SENATE 
5L'4 
Senate Bill No. __ 
u......::... 
INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
AN ACT 
UPGRADING THE JOSE R. 
REYES MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTER 
(JRRMMC) INTO A DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH (DOH) NATIONAL CENTER 
FOR TRAUMA, CANCER AND DERMATOLOGY AND APPROPRIATING 
FUNDS THEREFOR 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines 
in Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. 
The Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRRMMC), 
hereinafl/3r referred to as the Center, located along Rizal Avenue in Manila, shall 
be upgraded into a Department of Health National Center for trauma, cancer and 
dermatology, 
SEC 2. To enable the Center to effectively carry out its functions as a national 
center for trauma, cancer and dermatology, a modern twelve-story main building 
with a heliport for emergency operations shall be constructed within the 
JRRMMC compound, 
SEC 3. The Center, manned by an adequate number of competent personnel, 
shall be equipped with modern facilities to be housed in the main building, 
particularized as follows: 
(a) A one thousand five hundred (1,500) bed capacity for in-patients; 
(b) Emergency facilities for at least seven hundred (700) cases per day; 
(c) Fully-equipped special care units such as, but not limited to, the Medical 
Intensive Care Unit (MICU), the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), 
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SKU) 
and the Burns, Stroke, Spine, Renal and Pulmonary Care Units; 
(d) State-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic equipment and modalities; 
(e) Modern training and research laboratory facilities; 
(f) Complete sectionalized laboratory and blood banking system; 


(g) Computer-based Integrated Hospital Information System; 
(h) Other facilities and amenities necessary for a premier teaching-training 
medical center. 
, 
SEC 4. 
A four-story complex shall also be constructed within the JRRMMC 
compound to house service facilities with departmentalized clinics for two 
thousand out-patients. 
SEC 5. The execution of the project plan for the physical plant of the Center 
shall be undertaken by the Department of Health (DOH) in conSUltation with the 
Department of Public Works and Highways. 
SEC 6. Such amounts as may be necessary for the implementation of this Act 
shall be taken from the budget of the Department of Health for Fiscal Year 2002. 
Thereafter, the budgetary requirement for the Center's operation shall be 
included in the annual General Appropriations Act. 
SEC 7. 
All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof 
inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or amended accordingly. 
SEC 8. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in two (2) 
national newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved,