SAN JOSE, Antique – The 20-bed capacity dialysis center here will soon be fully operational following its Aug. 13 inauguration, said Gov. Rhodora Cadiao.
In an interview, Cadiaio said the center was built near the Angel Salazar Memorial General Hospital in San Jose to cater to Antiqueños who need to undergo dialysis.
“Once this dialysis center will start its operation, it will be one of the biggest in Western Visayas,” Cadiao said.
According Cadiaio, the dialysis center will complement the center in Culasi District Hospital in Culasi town where currently a 10-bed capacity can service patients from the northern part of Antique.
“The new dialysis center will attend to patients in the central and southern part of Antique,” she said.
The governor added that before the new dialysis center, the provincial hospital already had a four-bed capacity dialysis center inside the hospital.
Due to the influx of patients, the provincial government signed a memorandum of agreement with the Renal Care Specialist Inc. to operate and manage the center in Culasi District Hospital in February 2017 and at the provincial hospital this year.
Meanwhile, Antique Provincial information officer Galileo Magbanua said the center will just be operated initially by the Renal Care Specialist Inc. and later on will be turned over to the provincial hospital management.
“The provincial government has allocated P9 million for the construction of the dialysis center beside the provincial hospital,” Magbanua said.
Cadiao also said dialysis patients and other sick persons need not worry about their treatment because they can rely on the Philippine Health Insurance Universal Coverage aside from the provincial government Aid to Individuals in Crisis Situation and the Medical Assistance for Indigent Patient program of the Department of Health and Office of Antique rep. Loren Legarda.
“Sick Antiqueños no longer have to worry since several programs are extending medical assistance to them,” she said. (With a report from PNA/PN)
