KALIBO, Aklan – Cong. Teodorico Haresco Jr. of the 2nd district of Aklan wants to upgrade the facilities of a government hospital in Ibajay town.
He is pushing for the passage of House Bill No. 3561 which seeks to increase the bed capacity of Ibajay District Hospital from 25 to 200.
Haresco’s bill filed on Aug. 6 also seeks to rename the hospital to Western Aklan General Hospital.
“The government-run hospital in Ibajay needs to improve its facilities and services to accommodate more patients and to sustain the growing health needs of 180,000 residents in the towns of Tangalan, Nabas, Buruanga, Ibajay, Malay including the five barangays of Pandan, Antique,” Haresco said in his explanatory note.
The upgrade of Ibajay District Hospital would mean more medical staff and necessary funding requirements from the Department of Health (DOH) for government health care services.
Once enacted into law, the expansion of hospital bed capacity and the inclusion in the DOH’s programs in the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA) will be implemented within three years.
The provincial government, through the Provincial Health Office, is running the Ibajay District Hospital, the former Ibajay Emergency Hospital.
The hospital was established by Republic Act No. 2759 on June 1960 with a 25-bed capacity in Barangay Poblacion near the Ibajay town hall. The hospital was transferred to its present site in 1974 in Barangay Agbago along the national highway.
In 1993, all government hospitals and health services were devolved to the local government units of the province of Aklan by virtue of Republic Act No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991. (With a report Akean Forum/PN)
