On Tuesday morning, August 11, 2026, officials of the Cotabato Sanitarium and General Hospital jointly led the symbolic inauguration of the Women’s Welfare Center, formally opening its doors to the public. (Contributed Photo/John Unson)
COTABATO CITY โ A new door to healthcare for women who have spent years putting off a medical checkup because treatment was too costly or too far away has opened in the heart of the Bangsamoro region.
On Tuesday morning, Aug. 11, the door officially opened.
Inside the three-hectare compound of the Cotabato Sanitarium and General Hospital in Barangay Pinaring, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao del Norte, hospital workers gathered to inaugurate a facility that officials say is the first of its kind in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
The new Womenโs Wellness Center (WWC) is designed to give women access to specialized medical services โ from prenatal care and breast-condition screening to essential care for pregnant women and adolescents.
The launch for the hospital’s physicians and employees was more than another ribbon-cutting ceremony. It was the culmination of an effort they had built themselves.
Hospital chief Ibrahim Pangato, a practicing physician, said CotSanGen officials and employees worked together to establish the center using the hospital’s own funds.
โThis facility was established using funds from the CotSanGen Hospitalโs coffer,โ Pangato said.
The WWC comes equipped with modern medical facilities and is intended to provide women with services that can often mean the difference between catching a health problem early and confronting it only when it becomes critical.
The inauguration drew community leaders, journalists, representatives from local government units, and officials of the Maguindanao del Sur Provincial Police Office.
The audience reflected the communities the hospitals serve โ Muslim, Christian, and non-Moro Indigenous residents across the Bangsamoro region.ย But the healthcare push did not stop in Pinaring.
Hundreds of kilometers โ and another hospital milestone โ were also being marked Tuesday in Shariff Aguak, Maguindanao del Sur.
Officials of the Bangsamoro Regional Hospital and Medical Center (BRHMC) gathered to commemorate the facility’s first anniversary and to announce plans for an even broader healthcare campaign. BRHMC chief Mohammad Ariff Baguindali, also a physician, said the hospital intends to expand its healthcare programs, with particular attention to women and children.
The hospital is also placing a major emphasis on health insurance, which can determine whether poor patients receive treatment without being crushed by medical bills.
Baguindali said BRHMC is working to help patients become beneficiaries of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) through the hospital’s special outreach program.
For families struggling to make ends meet, getting enrolled can be just as important as having a doctor available.
Baguindali credited the Ministry of Health-BARMM for supporting the hospital’s pro-poor medical initiatives. He specifically cited BARMM Health Minister Kadil Sinolinding Jr., a physician-ophthalmologist and member of the 80-seat Bangsamoro Parliament, along with other regional lawmakers, for helping make the BRHMC possible.
The hospital was established last year inside the compound of the Integrated Provincial Health Office-Maguindanao in Shariff Aguak.
Now, one year later, its leadership says the next chapter is about reaching even more people โ particularly women, children, and poor patients who have traditionally faced the greatest barriers to healthcare.ย And across two Bangsamoro hospitals on Tuesday, that message was made unmistakably clear: Healthcare for the region’s poorest communities is no longer being treated as an afterthought.
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