Pursuant to Republic Act No. 4226, otherwise known as the Hospital Licensure Act of 1965,¹ the Department of Health (DOH) issued Administrative Order No. 2012-0012 in order to stipulate the “Rules and Regulations Governing the New Classification of Hospitals and Other Health Facilities in the Philippines.”² According to the Administrative Order, the classification of hospitals all over the Philippines according to service capability (Level I, Level II, or Level III) is based on the availability of certain structures and services within the hospital, as well as on the hospital’s capability to train physicians under accredited residency training programs in Internal Medicine, Obstetrics-Gynecology, Pediatrics, and Surgery.²

This infographic is a visualization of the “List of Licensed Government and Private Hospitals as of December 31, 2016,” which was made available online by the DOH Health Facilities and Services Regulatory Bureau (HFSRB).³ In 2016, out of the 1,224 licensed hospitals throughout the country, 434 (35.46%) were government-owned and 790 (64.54%) were private hospitals. Among government-owned hospitals, 334 (76.96%) had Level I, 47 (10.83%) had Level II, and 51 (11.75%) had Level III service capabilities. Among private hospitals, 455 (57.59%) had Level I, 269 (34.05%) had Level II, and 64 (8.10%) had Level III service capabilities. Four hospitals in Region VII, two government-owned and two private, were classified as having “Maternal and Child” service capability. Region IV-A (CALABARZON) had the most number of hospitals (217 hospitals) among the regions in the Philippines, with 142 Level I hospitals, 68 Level II hospitals, and 7 Level III hospitals. Region XIII (Caraga Region) had the least number of hospitals in the country, with only 18 hospitals, 10 of which were Level I and the remaining 8 were Level II hospitals. Aside from Region XIII (Caraga Region), other regions that did not have Level III hospitals in 2016 include Region IV-B (MIMAROPA) and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.