BY GLENDA TAYONA
ILOILO City – The city government marked another milestone in its effort to provide Ilonggos efficient social and medical services when it broke ground for its own hospital.
Led by Mayor Jerry P. Treñas, the groundbreaking ceremony for the five-storey Level 2 Iloilo City Hospital and Medical Arts Building (MAB) was held on Sept. 9 in Barangay San Pedro, Molo district.
“Handom gid ini sang mga Ilonggo nga may ara kita kaugalingon nga ospital. Amo na nga bisan sang pandemic, ginplanuhan sang syudad upod si Senator (Franklin) Drilon kag miyembro sang konseho nga makapangita kita sang pundo para makapatindog ta sang ospital,” said Treñas.
The event was also joined by other key players and stakeholders in the realization of the project such as Drilon, Iloilo City’s Cong. Julienne Baronda, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon and the members of the City Council, regional directors of different government agencies, and city hall department heads, among others.
Health is one of the top priorities of the Treñas administration in its “W.H.E.E.L.S. for Inclusive Development” program geared towards making the city more sustainable and resilient.
Poverty-stricken city residents who cannot afford the services of private health facilities will be served by the city hospital.
“Parehas man sang aton mga dialysis centers nga libre tanan sa mga pigado,” said Treñas.
The city government secured a P500-million long-term loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) for the city hospital. Zubiri is supporting the establishment of its Medical Arts Building with an initial P200 million coursed through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Another P500 milllion will be allotted to the city hospital as capital outlay after Drilon introduced an amendment to Republic Act RA 11891 that mandates the building of the city hospital to put fund in it. It shall be included in the budget of the Department of Health for 2023 through the General Appropriations Act.
The house version of the city hospital law is authored by Baronda.
The initiative also has the support of Uswag Ilonggo party-list.
Cong. Jojo Ang of Uswag Ilonggo thanked all the key players in realization of the project and vowed to support it.
“Daku gid ang impact sang sini nga proyekto sa kada Ilonggo. Surely, Iloilo City Hospital will provide more accessible medical and healthcare services for all. Mapadayon kita pagserbisyo sa aton mga pumoluyo. Ang Uswag Ilonggo kaupod gid ninyo,” said Ang.
Treñas said the P500 million will be used to procure hospital equipment such as MRI, CT Scan, X-Ray and other diagnostic equipment.
The target completion of the city hospital will two years from the start of construction. It will have 200 beds from the initial plan of only 70.
With a total lot area of approximately 7,135 square meters, the city hospital will cover 42 percent of the land and rest will be for open spaces, driveways and other facilities essential to the function of the hospital.
The hospital will include departments such as Emergency, Out-Patient, Surgical and Obstetrics, and an Executive Administrative Department.
The hospital will be under the direct supervision of the Iloilo City government.
Treñas is eyeing Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna, the City Health Officer Medical Officer IV who is currently pursuing his master’s degree, to be the hospital director.
Meanwhile, the city will have a memorandum of agreement with nursing and medical schools for their students to be trained at the city hospital.
As to the needed human resource, Fortuna said the ideal is one nurse to one patient at the Intensive Care Unit and one nurse to three patients at the ward.
Since the hospital is a Level 2 Hospital and will be departmentalized, the medical doctors needed depend on the existing departments.
“Medyo madamo damo nga human resource ang kinanglan naton for this hospital…We are also planning a consortium. We are in talks with other hospitals so that they can also send their residents kapin pa ang mga training hospitals, they can send their residents on rotation to the Iloilo City Hospital,” said Fortuna.
ADDRESSING THE GAP
Drilon lauded the city government for putting up its own hospital.
“This is important. Let me put on record my admiration for Mayor Jerry Treñas for taking the initiative. This is not an easy task. That is why he has tempered down the expectations by just initially planning for a 70-bed hospital on a loan of P500 million from DBP,” said Drilon.
When it becomes operational, the hospital will address the gaps in the city’s healthcare system, said Drilon.
The coronavirus pandemic, he said, exposed the inadequacies of the country’s healthcare system, and specifically the lack of hospitals.
This “resulted in the death of hundreds…Galibot-libot ang pasyente para kakita sang ospital. Kag indi lang ina. Ang mga pasyente naga-alalawas na sa hospital parking lot,” he lamented.
Drilon specifically cited healthcare system challenges – the availability (of lack of) hospital beds, the number healthcare personnel, and corruption.
Citing the World Health Organization (WHO), he said the standard ratio is three hospital beds for every 1,000 people.
The current population of the country is 110 million, but there are only 105,000 hospital beds nationwide, said Drilon.
The country needs about 230,000 hospital beds to close the gap, he stressed.
The province and city of Iloilo have a combined population of over 2.5 million, and the bed capacity needed is 7,500.
Currently, the city and province have a total of 3,100 existing hospital beds – 2,278 are in Iloilo province and 813 in Iloilo City. The gap is around 4,500 hospital beds.
“These 70 initial hospital beds of the city hospital, if we look at the overall need, gamay pa. But Mayor Jerry is taking the initiative kay kabudlay magpadalagan sang ospital,” Drilon added.
For his part, Zubiri emphasized the importance of establishing more government hospitals.
“There are already a number of hospitals in the city, but most of them are private hospitals, providing services that are largely inaccessible to many of our low-income constituents,” said Zubiri.
He added that aside from decongesting the existing hospitals in the city, including the government’s referral hospital Western Visayas Medical Center, the Iloilo City Hospital and MAB will also ensure that the Ilonggos have access to quality healthcare at a more affordable price point compared to private hospitals.
The Senate President also committed to give more support to the city hospital.
“I am with Mayor Jerry and the whole Iloilo City local government unit in making sure that our people will have access to it. So I am very much committed to this project. I assure you all my continued support, so we can give our beloved Ilonggos the health services they deserved,” said Zubiri./PN
