Gov. Gwen Garcia signed a usufruct agreement with Department of Health Central Visayas (DOH 7) and Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) for the utilization of two Capitol properties into additional Sugboanong Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Services (SUGBUCAS) Centers.
VSMMC chief Dr. Gerardo M. Aquino, Jr. signed the five-year agreement with Gov. Gwen in a ceremony witnessed by Board Member Dr. Stanley Caminero, VSMMC chief administrative officer Atty. Paul Gino Lopez, and VSMMC doctors at the Capitol on April 26.
One of the subject properties has an area of 291 square meters while the other is significantly bigger at 43,324 square meters.
Aptly called SUGBUCAS, the program is a tripartite collaboration among the Provincial Government, DOH 7, and VSMMC aimed at strengthening the absorptive capacities and enhancing health service delivery in SUGBUCAS Centers, thereby reducing referrals and congestions in ERs and OPDs in tertiary hospitals in Cebu City.
DOH 7 and VSMMC shall deploy their competent medical professionals to the SUGBUCAS Centers for the provision of ambulatory and urgent care services. Among other things, the agreement allows DOH to save on time and resources that it otherwise had to spend on constructing facilities for the program as Capitol properties are already offered towards that end in the agreement.
Services offered include primary care, emergency and ambulatory care, surgical services, specialized procedures for patients with chronic diseases, epidemiology and surveillance, and health emergency and response.
This is primarily an initiative of DOH Secretary Teodoro Herbosa who wishes to establish 28 BUCAS Centers by 2028 in the hopes of addressing the primary care needs of the country’s 28 million poorest Filipinos.