Put up of city hospital primary care unit, mulled

City Administrator Engr. Bonifacio dela Pena and Health Services Office (HSO) deputy chief Dr. Maria Lourdes Pakoy gave an update on the planned conversion of the Sto. Nino Hospital into a City Hospital Primary Care Unit, April 11, during the regular management committee meeting of local officials at City Hall chaired by Mayor Benjamin Magalong.      

Dela Pena said he met with owners of Sto. Nino Hospital and claimed that they are ‘very willing’ to have it rented by the city despite some legal issues that are still needed to be threshed out.      

He added that more meetings with the concerned parties will be conducted to finalize the planned endeavor.      

Located at Lower P. Burgos street, the hospital is currently being used as a Covid isolation facility by the local government.      

“The main objective of establishing a City Hospital is to provide good, quality health services to our constituents in the city,” he stressed.      

Pakoy said a meeting on the matter was held last January 16 with city officials led by Dela Pena and then HSO head Dr. Rowena Galpo including representatives from other concerned agencies.       

It was learned that although the establishment of a city hospital is not a requirement of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Law,  the mandate is to ensure that all Filipinos are guaranteed equitable access to quality and affordable health care goods and services and protection against financial risk which may be realized by establishing a public hospital for primary care.       

Also identified and agreed upon during the meeting was the need for a City Hospital, thus, the need for a feasibility study to be conducted.     

“Putting up a new public hospital will definitely take up more time for the preparation and will require a lot more funding. The group agreed that since the Sto. Nino Hospital is already existing and could possibly be utilized, it was considered as the primary option,” Pakoy said.         

While the plan is still being finalized, she added that the team tasked on the matter will do a benchmarking activity at the Olongapo City Hospital to learn more about the operational and other aspects of such an undertaking. – Gaby B. Keith