SENATOR ‘TOL’ WANTS ‘FLOATING HOSPITAL’ FOR PH

IT is high time for the Philippines, an archipelagic nation, to have its own ‘floating hospital’ – just like other countries.

The idea was raised by Senate Majority Leader Francis “Tol” Tolentino at a national convention of nurses held in Manila on Saturday (July 13).

“That is my dream: for the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard to have a floating hospital, even if it’s a small one,” the senator told reporters on the sidelines of the 49th annual convention of the Operating Room Nurses Association of the Philippines (ORNAP).

“The floating hospital can serve medical emergencies in the high seas such as attending to sick or injured soldiers and fisherfolk, and as first responders to island communities and coastal areas hit by calamities,” he said.

Tolentino cited the case of Robert Mondeñedo, one of the two fishers who figured in a “hit-and-run” incident involving a foreign commercial vessel and a small fishing boat in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) last week.

“It had to take hours before Robert was brought to a medical facility after he was rescued by the coast guard,” noted the senator.

He also cited the case a few weeks ago of a sick soldier who had to be evacuated from BRP Sierra Madre, the old warship that serves as a Philippine Navy outpost at Ayungin Shoal.

“If we only had a floating hospital, then our soldier could have been treated right there. We do not need to evacuate and bring him over to Palawan,” he explained.

The floating hospital can also be mobilized for coastal and island communities during calamities like typhoons.

He then recalled how military vessels from other countries, including hospital ships, were among the first to respond and deliver assistance to communities devastated by Typhoon Yolanda in 2013.