Palace clinic to become a hospital

First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo gave assurances yesterday that the decades-old Malacañang Clinic would be transformed into a 24-hour hospital.

Mr. Arroyo said the clinic would be made available for the general public where indigent patients can have free and easy access to the facility once it is transferred to the restricted compound of the Presidential Security Group (PSG).

Mr. Arroyo issued the statement after opposition Sen. Luisa Ejercito made a last-ditch appeal to President Arroyo to reconsider her decision to have the clinic transferred across the river to the PSG area.

"I would like to appeal to Mrs. Arroyo that she retain the Malacañang clinic here (San Rafael street), in its present location," the former first lady said after visiting the clinic to which she had donated 10 dialysis machines a few years ago.

Ejercito noted the clinic has been accessible to a lot of people wanting to seek quality medical care.

"The ordinary people know this place and when this is transferred there (PSG compound), where will the poor people go? I came here on behalf of the poor," the former first lady said.

Ejercito narrated she began her free dialysis project for the poor in 1999 until January 2001 when Mrs. Arroyo assumed the presidency.

She said some 8,640 patients have been beneficiaries of the project.

Ejercito said many from the provinces benefited from the dialysis center.

One dialysis machine session could cost over P3,000, an amount that is too high to many of the country’s poor, she pointed out.

Ejercito welcomed the move to retain the dialysis, x-ray and laboratory services in the present location but pointed out that separating the other facilities would be impractical and inaccessible to the poor.

Ejercito said a lot of patients at the clinic expressed their worries that all the medical services would be transferred to the PSG once the clinic is moved into the compound.

She said only Malacañang employees, PSG personnel and their families would have access to the clinic.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Ejercito’s appeal would be considered by Mrs. Arroyo. — With Christina Mendez