EDITORIAL - CCMC’s partial opening

Starting February next year, at least three floors of the new Cebu City Medical Center will begin serving the public. The partial opening of the building will be in time for the city’s charter anniversary celebration.

However, to open the lower ground, upper ground, and second floor of the new CCMC, the city will need to shell out P100 million for their completion and P300 million for the purchase of medical equipment.

As CCMC administrator Yvonne Feliciano said: “Most of our major hospital equipment is old and some are unserviceable so we need to request to buy state-of-the-art machines which we don’t have as early as now in preparation for our transfer to the new building considering the length of time the bidding and procurement processes are completed.”

With a 100-bed capacity, the opening of the three floors is certainly a piece of good news to the public, especially to poor city residents who, for years, have had to seek the services of private hospitals for their medical needs.

It’s really unfortunate the construction of the new city hospital building has repeatedly hit snags for lack of funding. And what is sad is the fact that the city government has never been aggressive in lobbying for more funding for its immediate completion.

Look, it has been almost six years since the CCMC was rendered useless due to the irreparable damage it sustained from the powerful earthquake in 2013. But funds for the construction of the new building only came in trickles.

In fact, the previous two administrations did little in speeding up the pace of the hospital’s construction. Had it been prioritized, the medical facility would have been fully completed and operational by now.

Still, it’s good that the city has assured the partial opening of the center early next year as this only means its inhabitants, especially the poor, can now look forward to availing of cheaper medical services.