IN a bid to make healthcare more accessible to underserved communities, the Department of Health (DOH) and San Miguel Foundation (SMF) have opened a new Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Services (BUCAS) Center at Better World Smokey Mountain in Tondo, Manila.
Operated in partnership with Tondo Medical Center, the facility offers free consultations, laboratory tests, minor procedures, and PhilHealth Konsulta packages.
Medical teams are now attending to patients from the area, helping ease congestion in bigger public hospitals.
This is the second BUCAS Center launched with SMF’s support, following the first in Cubao, Quezon City.
Both centers aim to bridge healthcare gaps in densely populated urban areas, where residents often face long waits and limited access to basic medical services.
With 50 BUCAS Centers now open nationwide under the DOH’s program, officials hope that similar partnerships will continue to expand access to timely, affordable healthcare for millions of Filipinos.
Goal: Simple but ambitious
In 2023, the Cubao-based Better World Clinic began hosting the country’s first privately supported BUCAS Center, in collaboration with Quirino Memorial Medical Center.
The goal was simple but ambitious: bring routine medical care to those who can’t afford to wait in endless hospital queues, or worse, delay seeking treatment altogether.
Through this Cubao facility, underprivileged women and mothers were initially prioritized, but the scope quickly broadened. Free consultations, lab diagnostics, medicines, and wellness sessions became available to the broader community.
It even ran 15 health education sessions, quietly building healthier habits in neighborhoods often left behind.
BUCAS Centers serve patients who need immediate, non-critical care: lab work, minor surgical procedures, and checkups that shouldn’t require a week-long wait.
This effort is part of a larger plan — DOH Secretary Teodoro Herbosa’s “28 for 28 by 28” vision, aiming to launch 28 urgent care centers serving 28 million Filipinos by the year 2028.
With SMC’s involvement, two of those centers are already up and running.
“We don’t just offer space,” SMC Chairman and CEO Ramon S. Ang said.
“We try to understand the system’s pressure points and act where we can make a difference. Many of our kababayan who fall sick are left waiting because the system is overwhelmed. That’s where BUCAS comes in.”
San Miguel Foundation said it’s now exploring the potential to convert its other community clinics in the provinces into BUCAS Centers as well — if local hospital partners can be found.
