WESTERN Visayas has reached an enviable milestone: 96.74 percent of its population — 7.83 million people — are now registered under PhilHealth. The region also boasts 751 accredited healthcare institutions and 3,277 accredited professionals, as recently reported by this paper.
The numbers look solid.
But when nearly eight million people are potentially entitled to services, the more pressing question is not how many facilities are accredited — it is whether they have the capacity to deliver.
Accreditation ensures compliance. Capacity determines survival.
Seven hundred fifty-one facilities across the region may sound sufficient until one considers the realities on the ground. How many of these are Level 1 hospitals? How many are tertiary centers capable of handling complicated surgeries, stroke cases, cancer treatment, or neonatal emergencies? How many are simply infirmaries or small clinics with limited equipment?
More importantly, where are these facilities located?
It is no secret that Iloilo City hosts the bulk of advanced hospitals and specialists. Urban concentration is natural. But what of upland Antique? Remote towns in Capiz and Aklan? Island communities in Iloilo Province and Guimaras? Are residents in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas receiving the same level of access as those in city centers?
A regional figure of 3,277 accredited healthcare professionals must also be examined beyond the headline number. Does this include specialists — cardiologists, neurologists, oncologists, anesthesiologists — or primarily general practitioners? Are these professionals evenly distributed, or clustered in private hospitals in metropolitan hubs?
When dengue surges, when extreme heat strains emergency rooms, when maternal complications arise at midnight in a rural municipality, capacity is tested not in theory but in urgency.
The sustainability of universal health coverage depends not only on enrollment but on infrastructure, manpower, and equitable distribution. A near-universal registration rate increases demand. Claims rise. Patient volume grows. Without corresponding expansion in hospital beds, equipment, laboratories, and trained specialists, the system risks congestion.
Universal health coverage cannot thrive on accreditation alone. It requires strategic investment.
Provincial governments must assess hospital bed-to-population ratios. National agencies must ensure rural health units are upgraded and not merely maintained. Incentives must be strengthened to encourage doctors and specialists to serve in underserved provinces. Telemedicine and referral systems must be improved to bridge distance barriers.
Otherwise, the numbers will mask disparities.
Western Visayas deserves recognition for expanding health insurance coverage. But sustainability requires moving from quantitative success to qualitative resilience. The question is no longer how many are insured.
The question is whether the system can care for them — equitably, efficiently, and sustainably — when they need it most.
