By Maroe T. Geñosa/PNA
STO. TOMAS, Batangas – The grassroots-based clinic, “Klinika ng Bayan”, reopened in its new and accessible location in Barangay San Antonio here Thursday.
Dr. Arnielyn Marasigan-Aguirre, “Klinika ng Bayan” head of operations and secretary-general of the health advocacy group Anakalusugan, said the clinic’s more spacious location would enable it to accommodate more indigent patient-beneficiaries and provide them better health services.
The “Klinika ng Bayan” was hatched in 2010 as the Batangas Enhanced Technology System Medical Health Care Clinic. Three years later, it assumed its present name and branched out to Balayan, Batangas City, Lipa City, and now Sto. Tomas town here.
“The re-launch of Klinika ng Bayan only means one thing — that there would be no halt in our community services, not only in Sto. Tomas, but in the whole of Batangas, through the extension of free services and medicines,” Aguirre said, noting that their operations have been intensified to reach out to those in need of health services, especially among the needy Batangueños.
Village folk beneficiaries from nearby San Agustin and San Bartolome villages have expressed their appreciation for the clinic, saying it has greatly helped them in availing of prescribed medicines and lab tests.
The clinic has been serving an average of 90 outpatients a day before it went on a brief respite. When it resumed its operations, it provided free medicines and health care services not only to families of small town lottery workers, but all indigent Batangueño families.
In an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA), clinic’s head nurse Kaye Abad reported that the “Klinika ng Bayan” has already served about 83,803 patients since 2013.
She said that other than giving away free medicines, the clinic also offers consultations, trauma cases treatment, minor surgery, brief confinement, and intravenous therapy, all administered free of charge.
Former mayor Adorlito Ginete, former president of the Batangas Mayors League, described the “Klinika ng Bayan“ as a classic example of what grassroots health services are all about. It should not only be supported, but should even be replicated in other parts of the country, he said,
Former Philippine National Railways general manager Owen Andal, who also graced the affair, said, “Clinics and even barangay health centers, should not only be operated in the remote areas of the country, but should also be fully manned and modestly equipped with emergency medical and health services equipment.”
“If a small medical facility, like the ‘Klinika ng Bayan’, can be put in Batangas and operated with a small team of highly competent people, then there is no reason why the same cannot be created in other parts of the country,” Andal said.
