ILOILO City – The city government plans to build a 50-bed, three-storey hospital in Barangay San Pedro, Molo district adjacent to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing laboratory that it is currently constructing.
According to Mayor Jerry Treñas, the hospital would be “about 2,000 square meters” wide.
This project is a priority because the COVID-19 pandemic may likely take longer to contain, he stressed.
“Waay pa kita sang vaccine. Kadaku sang bulig kon may ospital kita. Ang mga pumoluyo ma-atipan gid naton,” said Treñas.
He did not say how much would be allocated for the hospital construction but for the COVID-19 testing laboratory the city government has a budget of between P15 million to P20 million, including already the reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machine.
The city government having its own COVID-19 testing laboratory would hasten the release of test results, said Treñas, pointing out the sluggish work at the Western Visayas Medical Center’s sub-national laboratory in Mandurriao district.
Aside from COVID-19, the testing laboratory may also be used for dengue and human immunodeficiency virus tests, he added.
Five months ago, in February, Treñas led city government officials in inspecting a possible site for the proposed Iloilo City Hospital in Barangay Hinactacan, La Paz district. It was unclear as of this writing if this was the same project which the mayor now wanted to build in Molo.
“We need to identify and check the viability of the location. The hospital will cater to our people and communities and far-flung areas, unlike other barangays which are near the city center,” said Treñas in February.
The city government was then looking at acquiring a 1.5- to two-hectare lot in the barangay.
The place, said Treñas, already had a cemented farm-to-market road.
“The health facility will be a big help to our residents, particularly in times of emergencies. They can seek treatment faster,” Treñas added.
This proposed 50-bed capacity hospital would be funded by the Department of Health with about P159 million./PN
