DAVAO CITY Dec. 8 (PIA)- A new building which will cater to indigent clients at the Southern Philippine Medical Center will soon rise with Mayor Sara Duterte leading the groundbreaking rites last December 4.

The Pagkalinga Para sa Bayan (Care for the Nation) is a three-storey building worth P25-million. It will serve as a one-stop shop government medical assistance.

Located at the compound of the SPMC, it wil help patients and their kin seeking help for their various medical needs by cutting time, expenses and effort.

“I found out that people keep going to different places to seek financial and medical assistance, through this they can save more time and money.” Mayor Duterte said.

According to statistics 66,000 patients were assisted by the Lingap Para Sa Mahirap program from January to October of this year.

The existing set-up had clients of Lingap having going to the Lingap office at the City Hall then proceeding to the SPMC where they will get their medical assistance, the distance from City Hall to SPMC is a 25- minute ride or 6 kilometers away. This is also the same plight with other agencies tasked to assist indigents in medical cases.

With the new building, the  offices of Lingap Para sa Mahirap, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) and the Social Funds of the Office of the President will be under one roof.

The Lingap is a medical assistance program for indigents which was started by then City Mayor now President Rodrigo Duterte in 2001. (PIA)