DOH sets P150 million for city’s Maternal, Child Care Hospital
THE Department of Health (DOH) has allotted P150 million for the construction and establishment of a Level 1 Mother and Child Care Hospital in Dagupan City under the Universal Health Care Program (UHCP).
Speaking before the Sangguniang Panlungsod, Dr. Eric Sibayan of DOH said it is in addition to the Super Family Health Center funded by DOH at P16 million soon to be built in Barangay Bolosan in the city.
Dr. Sibayan confirmed DOH Regional Director Paula Sydiongco’s announcement during the PinasLakas vaccination program that under the UCHP, P150 million was allotted for the construction and establishment of the hospital.
A Level 1 Mother and Child Care Hospital will have an operating room, maternity facilities, a clinical laboratory, an imaging facility and a pharmacy, licensed by DOH.
Councilor Dennis Canto said the Mother and Child Care Hospital is a boon to a populous city like Dagupan and called on his colleagues to endorse the same and for Mayor Belen Fernandez to accept and avail of the facility.
Meanwhile, Minority Floor Leader Michael Fernandez appealed to well affluent citizens to donate part of their property for the new hospital because the earlier donation for the program was withdrawn.
Then Mayor Brian Lim presided over the ground-breaking of the proposed Level 1 hospital in Barangay Bonuan Bnloc expected to be donated to the city government. But when he lost the election, Lim no longer followed up the land donation in his few remaining days in office.
In 2013, Brian’s father, then Mayor Benjamin Lim, attempted to build a Mother and Child Care Hospital to be funded solely by the city on a city lot where the Juan P. Guadiz Elementary School is located.
However, this was aborted when the Department of Education refused to give up the lot where the Juan P. Guadiz Elementary School is located even if Lim already constructed a three-storey school building at the premises of the City Engineering Office to replace the lot occupied by JPG school.
The construction and establishment of a Level 1 Mother and Child Care Hospital in Dagupan is in pursuit of the continuing devolution of health services from the national government, represented by DOH, to the local governments, as a result of the Supreme Court ruling on the Mandanas-Garcia petition. (Leonardo Micua)
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