P70M hospital bldg inaugurated

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu Provincial government has inaugurated a P70-million hospital building in Malabuyoc last week.

The two-story edifice is now part of Mariano Jesus Cuenco Memorial District Hospital, a province-run hospital. With this new development, the facility now has a tuberculosis and animal bite center.

The building can also accommodate 50 patients and is beefed up with new medical equipment for diagnostic testing according to the Provincial Information Office.

“The medical facility in this area, which is far from the city, really needs to be improved. I hope that with this new building, better health services could be provided to the people, especially the poor patients,” said Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III who graced the activity.

Vice Governor Agnes Magpale also attended the ceremony along with the Provincial Health Office (PHO) head Dr. Rene Catan.

Catan said this move is part of the province’s pursuit of providing quality health services in the countryside.

It was the third new edifice that PHO and the Department of Health-7 opened this year as part of the series of efforts to ensure Cebuanos could have access to quality health services even if they are residing away from big hospitals in Cebu City. The other two inaugurated projects were located in two provincial government-run hospitals in the South.

A 50-bed capacity hospital in Balamban was also inaugurated last October. Before it, a new emergency building of the district hospital in Pinamungajan was also completed last September.

Upgrading the hospital and its facilities is the priority of the province given that health and social services top the list of Davide’s six-key development agenda.

Meanwhile, the Capitol allocated P1.4 billion for the operation and improvement of the province-run hospitals as well as the expansion of PHO’s health-related services and programs next year. (FREEMAN)