After improving the efficiency level at the government-owned Region 1 Medical Center (R1MC), the hospital’s management and staff are out to establish the 1st Medical Herbal Garden in the region.

Dr. Jesus Canto, R1MC hospital director, told The PUNCH that they have started on this mission last week by clearing the empty lots at the idle 3-hectare Doña Teodora Manaois Memorial Hospital in barangay Bonuan Binloc or the planting of medicinal plants. 

The clearing crew of 200 employees that included some doctors went about the chore enthusiastically as they looked forward to the setting up of the first of its kind garden. 

“We should have done this much earlier. I am very happy our workers are very cooperative and equally excited about the project” Canto said.

In addition to the garden, an area will be reserved for backyard piggery, poultry and vegetable garden to augment supplies required by the hospital,” Canto said.

A small fishpond for tilapia-raising, surrounded by fruit-bearing trees, will also be developed.

The Binloc annex of the R1MC had been idle for many years until the July 16, 1990 earthquake destroyed the main building of R1MC, then known as the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital. It was abandoned while the new buildings at the R1MC were being set up.

It was re-opened at the height of the SARS epidemic to isolate patients suspected to be afflicted with it. It was closed anew after the last patient was treated. 

Meanwhile, Canto announced that Filipino doctors who formed the Filipino-American Medical Association in Chicago will launch a fund-raising for the establishment of a Medical Mission Center to replace the dilapidated structure at the annex.

Dr. Grace Duque, a Dagupeña and a member of the group, has assured Canto that they will return in February for the inauguration of the new conference room at the R1MC which the group donated. — EVA

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